The Truth About Reality
by Niten
Summary: Genre and Rating altered per chapter. PG13 This go-round. Back to the arcade for the last round. Hope you people know your veritechs.
1. Preface: Author's Notes

**Disclaimer: **All successive chapters are based on the ideas of Gainax's "Neon Genesis: Evangelion." I didn't write the original scripts, I don't own rights to them…nothin', and don't claim to. Further more I don't own a microwave. 

**Author's Notes:  _Chapter 2:  Of Pride and Hope_**

…Geez.  Sorry about the delay.  This chapter was more or less "finished" some months ago.  I've just been without a computer sometime shortly after I completed the content due to a faulty motherboard.  

Anyway, I had planned on writing several chapters by this time period, but things never seem to work like I intend, so I'll just post up what I can when I can.  My most sincere apologies.

I'm fairly content with this chapter, though I'll admit I probably could have done better.  Of course, I can always do better.  

One thing to keep in mind as you read…watch most anything and everything, and I can promise you that if you think you're over-analyzing, you're not.  At some points I spent grueling hours talking with my favorite cohort, Xanatose, picking out individual words that would convey meaning…have the proper poise I wanted.  All events are relevant and tied into the over all central plot, plus there's more than a little symbolism thrown in here and there, though I tried to make it as light-reading as possible for those of you that are just in for a decent read.  

There's also several themes in each chapter.  Each chapter has sort of a different lesson in it to keep in mind, and each theme ties into the overall theme of the story itself.  IT'S ALL SIGNIFICANT.  Everything.  Even some of the stupid things.  

Despite all that, I hope it's still enjoyable.  Again, I put a considerable amount of time into making certain it was light-reading, but also deep enough for those of you that like to analyze things.

--Formerly Avarice

P.S.  I appreciate all you out there that read my work…but I would ask that those of you that don't have anything constructive—or deconstructive as the case may be—to refrain from reviewing.  If you like it, tell me what and WHY, and if you don't, do the same.  Please.

**Author's notes: **_Chapter 1: L'Espirit D'Escalier_

Well~ it seems I owe you folks an apology. I obviously didn't comply with the deadline I set for myself (I missed it by about a month) but hopefully the wait will have been worth it. I'm not going to offer an excuse, or even a valid reason for why it took so long, so I hope you weren't expecting one.

Anyway, bringing myself back to the point, I put a lot of time and thought (snicker) into this chapter… 

No, wait…come back. Right, don't go away yet! I'll be serious…promise.

A lot of _time_ was put into this chapter, and effort not entirely of my own production. Xanatose and DBigDMT played an exceptionally large role, and especially in the last third of the chapter where, to be quite honest, I was having some difficulty with. These guys stayed with me long hours into several nights while I bombarded them with paragraphs, bantering them constantly and demanding them to find flaws so that I could rewrite, and re-rewrite sentences, play with the diction and syntax, and all that fun and hunky-dorey stuff. 

There's a lot I want to say about this chapter, but I don't want to get _too_ long winded (I have an awful bad habit of doing that) so I'll make it brief—this is merely an extension of the exposition I began to paint in the prologue, so there's not a whole lot of action as there is just continuing to add color and props to the stage. On another note, you may not notice it _now_, but I took a whole lot of time and consideration to certain phrases and words I used in a lot of the dialogue. I hope like hell I make this one worth the time you spend reading and waiting, and if you guys find something you feel I should touch up on at a later time, you've got quite awhile to lemme know, as it's gonna be a _long_ time before you see the next chapter.

Not because it's gonna take me long to write the one, but because I'm going to be writing several chapters of about the same length before I post the second chapter. This is mostly due to the circumstances involving a certain, specific element in the fic. Anyway, I'm not going to set a deadline for when the next one is posted, but I'll be sure to try and pump it out as quickly as I can without sacrificing too much integrity.

Okie dokie…for those of you that read all this, I've managed to waste a considerable amount of your reading time, so just go ahead and flip the page.

--Avarice

**Author's notes: **_Prologue_

All right, here's the deal. After serious (not really) consideration, I recently (not hardly) decided my previous fics were basically crap. Does that surprise you? That I think something I wrote is total garbage and that I wasn't happy with it? Well, either way, such is the case, so I decided to do something about it.

This fic is more or less what I'm gonna call a "rewrite." Problem is, it's deviated so much from the original that it's not really even that so much as it is a whole new fic that was built off the foundation of it's predecessor (Asuka's Smile [Project 1 as I call it]). 

You'll notice the perspective was shifted from first person to third omniscient (a painful thing for me, I'll add) and that a great deal is going to be blatantly different from the original (which I made the mistake of taking down… # sheepish grin # But if anyone wants a copy I'll be happy to send one…sorry) ranging from not only characterization, but plot development, character interaction/involvement, and I've even put some thought into the angel—something that hasn't been done so far as I know. Everything that was basically spontaneous the first go-round will be progressively developed throughout the work. I'm going to work extra hard and extra carefully this time to try and get it right so that it's enjoyable and hopefully half-way believable. I'll not give away any "spoilers" but with any luck you'll all be pleased with what I have planned.

I'm also using a rather excellent, well-rounded group of pre-readers that I can't thank enough for their help. They were very fast and responsive and gave excellent suggestions as well as correcting a load of goof-ups on my part here and there. 

Keep in mind while reading the Prologue that it's precisely that; a prologue. I'm using it to do nothing but introduce the "major" characters that will be primarily involved in almost all of the character interaction. All I'm trying to accomplish in this first segment is to get you to see the characters as I want to present them and their relationships with other characters—'trying them on for size', so to speak.

At any rate, I'm done with my rambles, and I'm gonna name the pre-readers partially responsible for what you'll be reading per fic.

Look here for my preface to each chapter, as I'll be placing all my forewords here.

--Avarice


	2. Prologue: No Place Like Home

_Disclaimer--_ I don't own Eva and I don't want to. I just enjoy writing about it. :)

Special thanks to: **SxStrgSamurai13 -- **Basic overview and analytical response

** Tchernobyl** -- Content-judgment and critical support 

** Xanatose -- **Grammar/Spelling/Continuity (revenge, eh?)

** Tommy Rude ** -- Character analysis

Thanks much guys. Wouldn't have been able to pull it off without ya's.

**Prologue: **_There's No Place Like Home_

_I hate this. I really do. It's pointless, it's wrong, and I hate it. We don't have to do this. Why won't they listen to me?_

_I hate this._

_I really do._

The cycles of declarations swirled through the young man's mind over and over again, like waves crashing against the shoreline, surging further and further upon the beach, then shrinking back beneath the fingerings of the next foaming up-cropping of water. Still, with each pulse the teenager's heart picked up speed a notch as the thrill of the hunt began to overtake him.

_I hate this, I hate this, I hate this… _

In moments the unsuspecting red and white form of one of his opponents was before him, watching carefully from between two buildings at the least likely of paths that an adversary would have taken.

Shinji Ikari had learned a long time ago that the best hiding place was in plain sight. While the pilot of the red mammoth was attempting to search for him on the other end of the city, the dark-haired boy and his purple Eva had crept up the largest boulevard available and had crawled low amongst the smaller buildings until he was no more than a quick burst of speed away from his target.

_I hate this. It's pointless and wrong. Why do they make me do this? _

His AT field was focused on obscuring the sensors of his unsuspecting adversary. With slow and deliberate movements, he pulled the purple, black, and green behemoth known as "Evangelion Unit-01" into a crouch, adjusting his footing as he prepared to pounce.

The sixth sense of a trained warrior suddenly kicked in, and the young man realized he had erred and cut his time short from a few seconds to a few instances before the climax. The span of his next breath would determine whether he would win or lose this encounter.

_I hate this._

With a burst of super-human speed that should have been impossible for a creature or even a machine—neither of which the Eva was, and yet it was both at the same time—of its size, Shinji willed the machine to barrel into the quickly rousing red, black, and orange form of Evangelion Unit-02. 

The four-eyed visage managed to make a quarter of a turn before it was seized from behind, its neck being gripped harshly and the head being forced into an awkward angle. One of its arms was also seized and jerked around and to the rear of its back by the wrist.

Eva Unit-01 jerked the arm of its opponent almost to the breaking point while its fingers bore deeply into the neck of the crimson giant. With a mighty wrench the purple monster slammed back into the skyscraper that had supposedly served as cover for the four-eyed beast. 

Now both the building and the other Eva would serve as a shield.

Sparsely a second had gone by before, on an instinct, Shinji willed his Eva to yank its captive at another angle as he released the neck and reached for the pistol that had suddenly sprung from the left shoulder pillar. Gripping the pistol he prepared for the long-ranged attack he knew would come in only a hand's breadth. If he had timed it right, the sniper would accidentally hit Unit-02 and disable it while revealing her own position to the lone pilot and his mecha for retaliation.

He pulled the pistol in close, holding it upright and preparing to wheel it in whichever direction was necessary for a precise counter-attack.

_I hate this… _

The sound of a high-caliber gunshot pierced the air, and Shinji cringed involuntarily as the plug went dark momentarily. His head sunk, and it wasn't until his lungs screamed for oxygen that he realized he had been holding his breath the entire time.

He watched his hands as they trembled in fear and excitement, his veins awash with the adrenaline his body released every time he participated in one of these simulations. It was true that he hated it, but…

Shinji Ikari closed his eyes, filling his lungs with the dark liquid that provided him with both a cushioning medium as well as a way to synchronize with the beast he was currently sitting in. He heaved a heavy sigh, trying to force his body to cease the tremors that practically enveloped his entire being, rationalizing he shouldn't be excited in the least with having to spar with his two partners in such a manner.

"I hate it…" he whispered to himself as the red emergency lights flared on, signaling the plug was being ejected. 

His body refused to acknowledge his declaration, and his heart continued to beat at a rapid pace.

(-----) 

The bow glided back and forth across the gut strings of the cello, drawing a melancholy song from the bowels of the empty body of wood. Long, sad notes drifted through the air of the apartment as a set of fingers danced to a slow waltz along the neck of the instrument on marks that weren't seen, but felt by the player. 

It was for the first time the performer noticed that the larger the gap between where his fingers pinched the strings, the deeper and more sorrowful the notes that ensued. 

Not unlike how he felt at the moment. He had been pinched off, and the ravine that was developing between himself and the rest of humanity was continuing to bore deeper and wider every day. Before long, he knew he would become a bloodthirsty animal—not unlike the monster he trained to pilot almost daily of late—and totally lose his humanity.

And he didn't even do it for himself. It was all for his fellow man.

His jaw clenched tightly, and the hand holding the bow drew across the strings improperly, creating a high-pitched wailing sound, startling both the player and his audience from the dazed reverie to which each had succumbed.

"War~k!" the penguin that had been dubbed "Pen Pen" chimed, jumping from the cushion he had been settled on and flapping his wings vigorously.

"Sorry, sorry!" Shinji apologized, feeling a very human-like smile creeping to his lips at the bird's reaction.

Had the avian been able to scowl, it is very likely it would have done so at that moment.

With a heavy sigh the young man opened the case for the cello he had been given as a youth, and with practiced hands he set the archaic instrument into its proper resting place. After replacing the bow in its holster, he closed the case and set it back into the corner just next to the entertainment set.

_I'm just feeling sorry for myself_, he mentally chided. _I'm no less human than the next person. After all, if I wasn't human, then why would I bother trying to protect them? And it's not like it's such a big deal…there hasn't been an Angel attack in over two years. There probably won't be anymore, and as long as I'm in NERV they'll pay for my schooling, so-_

His thoughts were cut off as the front door opened. He turned to see who had shown up at such an hour unbidden, and could only smile as the lithe form of Misato Katsuragi struggled with two bags of groceries all while trying to balance on one high-heeled shoe as she used her other foot to hook the door and close it.

"You want some help?" he asked, moving to assist before the words had even made their way entirely out of his mouth.

The dark-haired woman threw him a perplexed glance before nodding wordlessly as she handed him the heavier of the two bags whilst slipping her shoes off.

"Ritsuko finished early with us today. I'm surprised you weren't there. Usually you like to watch these little war games the Commander sets up for us," Shinji answered her unasked question.

She smiled faintly as she set the bag on the table and pulled a chair out and began rubbing her stocking-clad foot. "Well, the good doctor had other plans for me today. I just got back from Tokyo-2 an hour ago and remembered we were out of milk and some other stuff, so I stopped by the store before coming home…"

"Tokyo-2?" the young man asked, blinking in surprise. _Well, that explains why she wasn't here this morning or at headquarters today._

Misato smiled, shifting in her seat and propping her feet up on the table in a very unlady-like seating arrangement, considering her short dress. "Yup! Had to go listen to a bunch of old farts gripe about not having any money because of NERV, and they tried to point the finger at us 'cause of the Angel attacks from way-back-when. I wish they'd understand that if they cut our funds even shorter that when the shit hits the fan we won't be able to protect them. I mean, what good are money and power going to be if no one's left around to enjoy them because some pompous jerk is worried over the fact that he can only afford _five_ maids instead of _six_ this year?"

"I'd imagine they wouldn't be any good at all, considering without people to enjoy such things I guess they don't really exist…" the young pilot commented as he set to putting up groceries.

"Exactly!" the woman shouted, pulling her feet off the table and slamming her fist on the hard surface. "Those old windbags! It'd serve 'em right if the next Angel lands right on top of one of their houses and smashes it to pieces! Why the hell is it people can't see that _we're_ the only things saving their sorry asses!?"

"Well…I guess…" Shinji answered a bit reluctantly. His face brightened as he thought of a much less violent topic to talk about, "Ritsuko…she said I did really good in the training mission today!"

The fire faded from the woman's eyes, instantly replaced with curiosity. "Did you beat them?"

"Almost. I managed to sneak up on Unit-02 and grab it and use it as a shield, but Rei hit me from the side…" he tapped his temple lightly as he spoke, "right here."

"Why didn't you use your AT field?" she asked, looking a little flustered.

"I didn't have time. I had been using it to shroud their sensors so I could sneak around, but I stood up too soon and Ayanami saw me, so I grabbed Kaworu and put my back up against the wall and tried to use him as a shield for the bullet."

She blinked. "You knew it was coming?"

A frown creased the young man's features. "Well…I guess I did, maybe. It's always her that 'kills' me, so I guess anytime I stand up in the open I _know_ it's going to come. The only thing is, with the AT field used as a dampener on the sensors I can't see them, either, so I never know where it's going to come _from_. Or when, for that matter."

The woman leaned forward and tapped her chin. "That's the whole point of the sniper, though. Except of course you're not even supposed to know that it _is_ coming. But beyond that, I think Rei's doing her job pretty well."

"Yeah…she's gotten really good at putting a bullet either between my eyes or in the side of my skull," he remarked dryly.

"Aw~, don't get so sore over it. She's only doing it because it's a simulation and she knows you won't get hurt. She does have a soft spot for you, ya know."

Shinji began to blush profusely. "Stop that!"

"But I like teasing you! You get all huffy and it's kinda cute," Misato giggled teasingly.

"Leave me alone about stuff like that!"

The Major snickered again, but kept further commentary to herself on the matter, watching the dark-haired boy go about the task of putting the supplies she had bought with amused eyes. It struck her as funny that he insisted on keeping everything in the house in perfect order; from his bedroom to the bathroom, and everything between. He had even gone so far as to forbid her from helping with any of the chores around the household, as she tended to "mess things up more than help".

Not that it hurt her feelings in the slightest that he did all the cleaning.

"How was school today?" she asked, though for no other reason than to keep the conversation going.

"Okay, I guess…" he replied, obviously not wanting to tread that route.

"Did Kaworu loan you any of his pretty little fan-girls to fondle on today, or did he keep them all for himself again?"

The young man's brow furrowed at her question. "Well, it's not so much that he keeps them to himself tha-_hey!_"

Another girlish giggle elicited from the woman's lips at her roommate's delayed response. Indeed she did get a rise out of toying with him, and it was obvious that on some level he got a great deal of relief out of the interaction, though outwardly he expressed a disliking for it. It was almost like a little game they played whenever they managed to have some "quality time" together.

Several moments passed before either spoke again.

"What would you like for dinner?" he asked after he folded the paper bags and put them in the recycling bin he insisted on keeping beneath the sink.

"Oh, I dunno. Just whatever's fine," Misato replied, smiling cheerfully as she stood. "I'm gonna go take a quick shower and put on something more comfortable!" she said before disappearing

It didn't take long for Shinji to come up with something simple—rice, fish, some steamed vegetables and a bowl of hot soup. After fixing three helpings, he served them out to their respective places.

"War~k!" the two-foot bird remarked, shoving the vegetables aside and picking out the fish.

"If you don't like it so much, I think I could whip you up something real fast," the woman at the table offered earnestly as she took her seat.

A look of sheer and abstract horror filled the penguin's features.

The look was almost mirrored by the expression on Shinji's face, though it quickly shifted to one of a more nervous nature. "Uhh…no offense, Misato, but I kind of got rid of all the instant foods about a month ago… So, um, I, ah…I don't think there'd be anything you could fix in there…at the moment…"

His revelation caught the woman off guard, and she openly gawked for several seconds before slumping back in her chair, suddenly very tired. "…Right." 

For several moments the two people at the table were silent, each picking at the food on their plates in disinterest while trying to avoid eye contact.

Of course, this lasted until the dark-haired woman's stomach growled audibly, drawing a slightly embarrassed and nervous laugh from her. "Well, I guess that makes it official! At least I know I'll be eating healthy from here on in!" she elicited, her mood brightening considerably at the thought of having both good food and a clean house to come home to—and herself not having to lift a finger in effort of either.

(-----) 

A sweat-laden right hand gripped the control stick while the left furiously worked the lever-arm that signaled the transforming his veritech fighter from "fighter" mode to "guardian", serving as a sort of brake for the insanely fast jet-bot.

With two bogeys on his six that were of "S-class" ranking, Shinji was finding it terribly difficult to get an edge in this more-or-less one-sided battle. He swooped in low to an abandoned city, smoothly maneuvering his machine in the smaller alleys, then reversing his direction in mid-flight by reverting to the hybrid form, adjusting his direction and flying straight up while narrowly avoiding enemy missiles.

"That was pretty slick, Ikari. I don't think even Kensuke coulda pulled that one off," Touji remarked from his friend's left.

Nearly everyone in the arcade that knew anything about the latest "Macross" simulator was now crowded around where the Eva pilot unwittingly provided the onlookers with something moderately entertaining.

"He ain't out of the fire yet!" Kensuke retorted, pointing at the sudden entourage of radar blips on the HUD the game monitor was providing.

Another heft of the emergency brake like lever to the left of his seat brought Shinji's Valkyrie into its "battlroid" form. Releasing the lever and gripping the second control stick he worked to spin the now humanoid-shaped fighter to face the sudden onslaught of missiles his nearest opponent had fired off. In a clever—though near-suicidal—move, the boy fired his thrusters and flew straight back at the pod with legs, his hand-cannon blazing a trail through the missiles directly in his path.

Through some emulated miracle, not a single missile hit him.

The corners of his mouth tugged slightly upward as one of his targets exploded in a colorful blast of metal and flames. His hand jerked from the second stick back to the lever, altering his mecha back to a fighter, and with the foot-pedals he launched it forward to avoid any attack that might come from below.

"Real slick. I _know_ Kensuke couldn't have pulled _that_ one off. Hell, I think you been watching too much anime. I mean, only the pilots in the shows pull stunts like that and manage to live," the large man in the jumpsuit said, standing and crossing his arms.

Kensuke also stood, pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose and tossing his friend a sour look. "My evasive maneuvers are more realistic. I'm sure the programmers set it to where if the player tried such a stunt he would almost automatically succeed, if for nothing other than a bit of parallelism to the actual shows."

Suzahara grinned broadly. "Yeah, well I think maybe someone's just a little jealous that his score just got beat pretty badly, and that someone other than him came up with a pretty bold stragety before you."

"Hmph. The word is 'strategy', knucklehead," the curly-haired boy corrected.

There came a loud explosion from the speakers, followed by the tactical shooter camera angle zooming out to offer the view of Shinji's veritech fighter plummet to the ground where it landed in an open boulevard. The camera angle began to rotate about the shot-down battleroid, offering the view of where the head might have been had it still been attached.

"Wow, that musta hurt like hell," Kensuke noted, though he couldn't keep the faint note of excitement completely from his voice. He was quite apparently pleased that his friend wouldn't master the game as quickly as everyone else had thought.

"Damn, I missed it. What happened?" Touji asked, astounded by how quickly his friend had been taken down. "Whoa, dude. Someone blew your head off!"

"I…lost?" the defeated Ikari seemed more than a little dazed as the moving screen came to a halt, the HUD disappearing and his score and ranking being posted for all to see. He was quite obviously upset at the turn of events. "…Probably a sniper."

"Yeah, it was one of the 'Monsters' posted on the outskirts of the town. Strange that one with cannons meant for attacking other battleships could manage to _only _blow your head off, but undoubtedly not entirely impossible," the smallest of the trio said, his hands clasping behind his head and his eyes going to the ceiling. He then reached forward and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before adding thoughtfully, "Guess that just goes to show no matter how good you are, all it takes is a well-placed bullet that you didn't know was coming at you."

With a sigh of defeat, the midnight blue-eyed boy crawled out of the pod, making way for the next person to try his luck. His enthusiasm for video games had suddenly plummeted through the floor, and now he simply felt like going home.

"Where to now?" the large man asked, not moving from his position and with his arms still crossed.

"I'm staying right here. I'm next in line, and I've just _got_ to beat Shinji's score and take my place back at the top!" Kensuke almost whined. When he turned and saw the player in the seat get decimated by the first batch of attackers, he grinned wickedly. "I'll probably just catch up with you guys, okay?"

"Sure, whatever. I think me and da Shin-man's gonna go walk around some, cool?" Touji said before making his way through the crowd toward the exit, not bothering to wait for an affirmative from his friend.

"Fine…" Shinji responded heavily, his head hanging.

(-----)

"What's eatin' you, dude?" Touji asked as soon as they were out on the sidewalk and relatively alone. 

The evening air was still warm in the perpetual summer-time climate, and the cicadas were at their loudest at this particular time, helping to mask any conversation that was held in low enough tones. Streetlights had begun to turn on, illuminating the walkway as the pair made their way to some unspoken destination.

"Huh? Oh…it's nothing…" 

The larger man rolled his eyes. "Look, man…we been friends for what? Three, almost four years now? It just so happens that I've learned that when you say 'nothing' it usually means the exact opposite. So why dontcha just come off clean and stop wasting time, ehh?"

Shinji chuckled as he remembered similar words coming from Misato's mouth after he had destroyed the Fourth Angel all those years ago. "I guess you know me a bit better than I gave you credit for…"

"Damn straight," Touji affirmed, a silly grin on his face.

"Well…I guess-" he stopped at a crosswalk, looking both ways despite the "walk" light being on. "I guess it's just 'work'."

"The Evas," the more muscular of the pair corrected. "You ain't got a job…more like a curse, if you ask me." He paused before continuing, "So what happened that's got you all bent outta shape?"

With a sigh, the midnight blue-eyed boy decided to relay the day's training results—as well as the last fifteen before that. "It's just that Rei's so good at hiding and picking me off from afar. What am I going to do if the next Angel that comes along can just blow Unit-01's head off before I even get the chance to see it?"

Despite his past and rather horrific experiences with the metallic titans that were supposed to defend mankind, Touji seemed more than willing to discuss them with his friend. "Ayanami ain't no Angel. She's got a bit more smarts on her than some dumb old alien invader. And it ain't like she's gonna turn on you in the field or nothing…I mean, she likes you. You're about the only person I ever see her actually talking with at school. It's just training, dude…don't sweat it so much."

The young man sighed heavily, making a show of a friendly smile before nodding his agreement. "You're right, of course. And it's not Ayanami I'm worried about…it's me and my performance. Before my last fight, Kaji said something to me that made me realize why I really do bother to pilot that monster. His words gave me purpose, and I thought back to the second time I fought and I understood what he meant. I'm just scared of messing up and failing someone that I should have helped…"

Touji arched an eyebrow as they finished crossing the street and continued on their way to the same unknown and unspoken destination. "You mean Sata—err, Soryu?" 

Shinji hadn't missed the slip, and forced back a grin at his friend's "pet-name" for the Second Child. "Yeah. I almost failed the whole world once, but somehow I managed to get back in time to save it…but then when it came down to it, I couldn't save one person that was practically within arm's reach. And let's not even touch on the ordeal with you and Unit-03…"

There was an extremely painful pause for both men, and for several strained moments they walked in silence.

"Sorry," the dark blue-eyed young man offered sincerely.

"It weren't your fault. Misato explained it to me, and we done talked about this," the younger man replied heavily. "Let's just not worry about it, okay? It's done and over with, so let's just not sweat it."

"…Right."

Touji's eyes went heavenward, and he squinted to try and see the stars through the haze created by the city lights. "Well, about _her_. I didn't know her so well, and I didn't like her so much, though I do gotta admit I miss her. Something about getting used to a person…well, then she just left like that. It'd be nice to think she could forgive you for something that ain't even your fault to begin with, but with her…well, somehow I doubt it."

"…Right…" Shinji replied again, sounding downtrodden. He still respected the other man's words, however. They had been meant to console, but in the way only painful truth can comfort a person.

"But then, that girl was so screwed up you couldn't really count on her from one second to the next…unless you take that she's unpredictable. That was about the only thing you could expect from her," he remarked dryly. After a second of consideration he added, "And to be a bitch. Not just a 'bitch' bitch, but a 'B-I-T-C-H' bitch." He paused and considered his words and added as an after-thought, "Capital 'Bitch', even."

The almost reflective tone Suzahara had used drew a snicker from the older young man. "She wasn't all _that_ bad."

"Whatever, man," Touji replied, his arms reaching up and folding behind his head as they continued their trek. Several moments of silence elapsed before a notion struck the young man. "What're you doing tomorrow night?"

Shinji considered it a moment. "Friday…Saturday? Saturday after school and training I work out with Kaworu and then go to Rei's place and have a cup of tea…after that I'm free."

"Oh, yeah," the younger man remarked, continuing to look at the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of at least _one_ star. "So when you gonna hook up with her, anyway?"

"Huh? It's not like that!" the pilot protested, though his cheeks had flamed up furiously.

"Su~re it ain't… Anyways, how about we get Kensuke and go see a movie or something? You been so busy the last few weeks we ain't done a whole lotta hanging out lately, and Kens is talking about joining the army after his eighteenth birthday later this year…so, well, just wanna get together like tonight and have fun as much as possible."

Through the corner of his eye, Shinji Ikari noticed there was more his friend wanted to say, but the pilot didn't press the matter. If Touji had something to say and had the words for it, he wouldn't hesitate to speak what was on his mind. "Tell Kensuke I said 'goodnight.' I think I'm gonna head back to the apartment now…testing tomorrow and all."

"Yeah. 'Night. See ya in the morning." The large man waved his friend off absently, still trying to bring up the courage to ask the question that had been plaguing him since middle-school.

(-----) 

Simulated afternoon sunlight streamed in from the synthetic ecosystem known as the Geofront through the large window that served more-or-less as an entire wall. The large gym was completely empty, save for the two young, male occupants.

"Most impressive. It appears that you have bested me yet again. Are you positive you aren't cheating?" The words were spoken in a melodic voice that held a sparsely hidden trace of mirth.

With a grunt from effort, Shinji shifted the weight of the barbells onto the holster, causing a heavy _clink_ to fill the otherwise silent room. He rolled up into a sitting position, grasping a towel on the weight-rack next to the bench and began wiping his sweat-laden face while trying to catch his breath.

"That would put you over ten kilograms ahead of me," Kaworu continued, deciding an answer was not forthcoming from his closest and dearest friend. He brushed a wetly clumped strand of light grey hair from his face as he scribbled a few numbers on a pad full of similarly scratched figures. "You've been steadily increasing at least two kilograms every week, whereas I'm only managing one."

The other boy chuckled, though there was a slight burning feeling in his already flushed cheeks. "It's not like it's a big deal. You could probably easily beat me if you really tried." His hands rubbed the dying cloth vigorously against his matted hair.

"True humbleness is a quality as lacking in you Lillim as honesty. I find it amazing that you possess not just one of these, but both, and even quite sincerely. You are truly a rare person, Shinji Ikari," the taller and thinner boy noted, his piercing crimson eyes making the weight of his smile two-fold.

"I…err, thanks, I guess…" the other young man fumbled as he stood, thoroughly confused by his friend's proclamation. "Ah…what's, um, next?"

Delicate, yet strong hands held the small pad aloft as the oddly colored eyes scanned the listing of seemingly random sketches. "These were the last, actually. All that is left to do is shower, dress, and part ways for the evening."

Shinji blinked perplexedly. "Really? That's all? Wow…we're sure getting faster at this stuff."

"Indeed. Though working out serves little purpose for our jobs, it still does leave one with a heightened opinion of one's self, don't you agree?"

"Well, that is…" the younger male's hand began to rub the back of his head in a rather nervous manner. "…I…guess?"

Kaworu smiled brightly. "Well, now that we are all finished we must both shower for our dates."

"What? I don't have a date," the Third Child stated, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Do you not go visit Miss Ayanami after our work-out activities on Saturday?"

Ikari blinked yet again. "Yes, but what does me going to her house and having a cup of tea and a short chat have to do with dating?"

"Ah, my apologies then. Major Katsuragi must have been joking when she said something to Doctor Akagi about your weekend excursions." He paused, his thumb and index finger taking his chin as he considered something for a moment. "Perhaps I should learn to stop taking things so literally. I had assumed Miss Ayanami and yourself had engaged in a more intimate relationship, so to speak, when the Major giggled something about you 'boning Rei'."

"Wha-wait! It-…it's not like that at all!" Shinji sputtered, waving his hands frantically, as if to ward the words themselves off.

"Oh?" the grey-haired boy asked. He leaned forward, peering suspiciously at his friend, a thin eyebrow jutting upward. "You are acting quite defensively to something you claim to be groundless, and you are blushing quite profusely. Shall I take it that you are attempting to conceal the truth and that you are indeed engaging in sexual activities with the First Child?"

The younger boy's eyes widened in abject horror.

Nagisa stood erect, his finger stroking his chin as he began to pace a few steps. "Not that there would be anything wrong with such an aspect from my point of view. She is a very fine-looking specimen, that is to be assured. She is also very complacent—a feature most males in our society find to be quite an amiable quality. And I must admi-"

"It's not like that!" the other male interjected, his dark blue eyes flickering as the embers of his anger began to flare up. "We just have tea and talk!"

Again the older boy smiled, his own eyes flashing—though in humor rather than anything hostile. "I know. I just find it quite amusing when you get in a fluster, you understand. You tend to go…'ballistic' I think the word is…when you're being teased."

Shinji grumbled something under his breath as he stood and made his way towards the locker room.

"What was that?" Kaworu asked, grinning broadly. He had heard his friend perfectly, but truly did enjoy ruffling his friend's feathers from time to time.

"I said you've been listening to Misato too much!"

(-----)

"I…see," the pale-colored young woman remarked as she listened to Shinji related his most recent experience in the gym to her. The white blouse and thigh-length black skirt of her high school uniform still decorated her almost perfectly white skin, and her short, pale-blue hair was slightly unkempt as she tended to do little more than wash it and occasionally rake her fingers through it. She had discarded the red kerchief that was normally tied around her neck, and the top two buttons of her shirt were undone simply for comfort.

"I'm sorry," the young man apologized miserably. "I didn't think this could get out of hand like it has. I'll understand perfectly if you'd rather not be seen with me anymore."

Rei set her small glass of tea on the immaculate—at least as close to such a state as can be expected from an under-used, battered, and extremely old piece of furniture—table as her eyes studied the features of her companion's face with an impassive air. "Why would I wish for you to stop visiting me?"

Shinji refused to look at the lithe young woman across the table from him. "Well, I mean all the embarrassing rumors Misato's probably started around headquarters. Most girls would get really angry if—"

"I am not 'most girls'," the girl affirmed in her quiet monotone. "And I do not wish for you to stop visiting me. I am quite certain that no one at NERV takes the Major seriously outside of her prescribed duties."

"B…but Kaworu-" the young man stammered.

"-does not concern either of us. And it is quite likely that he was merely attempting to gall you for his own amusement as he does with some of his female companions." The blue-haired woman with the ruby-red eyes lifted the small tea-glass to her lips and watched the young man's reaction carefully, studying every pore of his face.

After her last statement, the eyes of the Third Child glanced at her, and a split-second later the rest of his face followed-suit. He began to fidget nervously with his own small piece of chinaware as he began to piece together his response. "I, err…I'm sorry."

"For what?" Rei asked, propping her lithe elbows on the table and leaning slightly forward.

"Well, that is…I…" Again his eyes fell downward, though this time to focus on the small cup he continued to finger diligently. His face brightened considerably as he thought of another subject to discuss. "I, umm, heard the swim-team is going to be having its tryouts pretty soon. Are you going to give it a go this year?"

A distant look filled the crimson eyes as she considered the words. She had also seen the fliers, and while she knew her duties wouldn't permit the allocation of such activities within her schedule, it didn't stop her from wanting to at least see if she could make the cut. Her face remained perfectly impassive throughout the four-second interval—a skill she had mastered so long ago she couldn't even put a round-figure on the date. Even so, it was still with great difficulty she concealed any inner turmoil completely from this particular Ikari.

She had very little difficulty in doing so with the other, older one.

"Rei?" he asked, his voice laced with concern.

Here eyes re-focused on her fellow-pilot's face, and she felt a faint rush of warmth envelop her body at how sincere his feelings toward her were. She didn't think it capable of her to be able to return those feelings, but they touched her nonetheless. "No," she answered quietly. "I have no desire to enroll in any extra-curricular activities this year."

When he opened his mouth to protest, the young woman held out a hand to again change the subject, though a part of her wished he _would_ protest and _insist_ that she stay after school and at least tryout for the team. Still, she had learned not to expect such actions from the boy a long time ago, though she also enjoyed it when he complied with her wishes. Such a thing was rare for the young woman, and she found that Shinji's willingness to provide her with a comfortable setting quite amiable.

Several long moments passed in silence as the two simply sat—Rei sipping lightly at her cooling tea while Shinji simply looked around the small apartment with an expression of wonder.

"You sure have done a lot with this place. Every time I come here I can't help but think back to what a, errr…" his brow creased deeply as he fished for a word that would be appropriate, though non-offensive to use.

"Dump?" the First Child offered. Another surge of warmth enveloped her at seeing his cheeks flush and his face contort in an expression she almost found humorous. Her face and eyes, however, remained completely nonchalant. 

His hand went to the back of his head and his eyes fell to the table. "Well, um…not exactly." A quip of laughter escaped his lips as he lightly gripped the glass of tea and began to awkwardly fumble with it while holding it slightly off the table. "To be honest it wasn't half as bad as Misato's apartment when I first moved in. And not even a fifth as bad as what it was like with her and Asuka…" His voice trailed off and a pained look crossed his features as he uttered the name.

This caused yet a third rush of warmth to fly through the young woman's body, and despite her usually impasse air, the corners of her mouth faintly tucked downward, though so slightly it would have been imperceptible on a normal young woman.

But for Rei Ayanami she might as well have been scowling.

The Second Child hadn't left on the best of terms, and her parting words had been far less than kind to the boy. While at the time Rei hadn't completely understood the devastating effects they had on Shinji, she had quickly learned to divert his mind from thoughts on the German girl. She didn't exactly know when it had happened, but the pale-skinned girl had developed a slight conscientiousness of her companion and co-worker's state of mind, and found it very disquieting when he was thinking about the former pilot.

"Do you still require my assistance with your trigonometry homework?" the girl asked in an attempt to turn the boy's mind in a different direction.

Her question was quite effective in bringing her cohort's attention back to the present and hopefully far away from where they had been dwelling. "Could you? I mean, you really did help me out a lot last week, and I'm sure Misato won't mind if you come over for dinner tomorrow…um, if you're not too busy, that is?"

Finishing her glass of tea, the girl set it onto the delicate—and lightly cracked—saucer and nodded. "What time should I arrive?"

Shinji smiled. "How does six o'clock sound? That way I can have dinner ready and we can eat before we get to work."

Again, Rei nodded. "That time suits my schedule as well. The tests Commander Ikari has planned for me should be well over by that time."

"Great," the boy ensued happily, draining his cup of the room-temperature contents. He stood, bowing deeply as he prepared to leave. "Thanks, Rei."

The blue-haired woman offered no reply as she watched him leave the small and slightly run-down apartment, her red eyes lingering on the closed door for several long minutes after he was gone. Finally, with a gentle sigh she pushed herself away from the table, collecting the few dishes and gently depositing them in the sink, not really caring that such treatment of the fragile porcelain would likely end up leading to its destruction.

Before she could lie down on the bed, her cell-phone rang, and she picked up.

The voice on the other line was brief, but that was all was necessary to relay the message.

For the second time in only the span of a few moments Rei Ayanami's perfect features creased in the faintest of frowns.

(-----)

Without a word the single passenger of the VTOL escort stepped out onto the landing platform, her hair flipping about wildly as the turbulent air lashed furiously about her tall frame. She was dressed in a pair of light-denim slacks and a loose-fitting, turtle-necked pink sweater and wore a pair of simple white sneakers. In her hands was a rather large suitcase that seemed to be quite heavy, though the woman bore the load with little complaint.

The whine of the turbines raised several octaves, indirectly informing the former-passenger of its departure. She turned and glared at the thing, releasing one hand from her burden to shield her eyes from the intensity of the sudden blast of heated air as the pilot fired up the afterburners to accelerate.

It took several seconds for the wind to die down, and the woman lowered her arm and released an indignant huff. She muttered several curses as she raked her fingers through the long tresses of her auburn hair in an attempt to at least retain some minor state of the image of perfection the woman tried to maintain.

Once she had things in a state where they were at least temporarily acceptable, the woman set her suitcase on the ground and inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of the environment as she waited for her legs to register that she was indeed on solid ground and was planning to remain as such for some time to come.

"Hmph. Smells like rice and fish," she muttered to no one in particular. She snickered at her own joke as she reached beneath her sweater and pulled her cellular phone from the holster hanging from her waist. She pressed a button that speed-dialed the specific number she wanted to reach and waited for several long seconds for the person on the other end to pick up.

"_Major Katsuragi speaking,_" the female voice on the other line said.

"Hallo, Misato!" the redhead chimed cheerfully, sincerely glad to hear the voice of her former guardian.

"_Asuka__!__ So you just got in, then?_" It was apparent the Major was also happy to hear from her former charge.

_And why shouldn't she be?_ the Second Child of NERV's E-project asked herself. "Yeah," she replied, inspecting her nails with her sapphire-blue eyes for any imperfections. "But I gotta do all that crumby paper-work that comes with a transfer now, and all that silly red-tape they insist on wrapping _everything_ in."

"_It's great that you're back! Should I go ahead and tell Shinji?_"

The girl smiled and shook her head as she replied, "No, I still want it to come as a complete surprise. His eyes'll probably bug out of his head when he finds out, and I _definitely_ want to be there when it happens."

There came a girlish giggle on the other end of the line. "_You're so mean to him. Well, what time do you think you should be home tomorrow?_"

"Oh, I dunno. I figure by the time the physicals and all that fun stuff is over with, it'll probably be around four or five o'clock tomorrow evening," Asuka replied, reaching down and hefting up her heavy suitcase and beginning to walk to the building where mounds of paper-work requiring her personal information awaited her.

"_That late, huh?__ Well, I'll be sure to tell Shinji to be ready to go out! This calls for a bit of celebration!_"

A look of distaste marred the young woman's beautiful features. "No, I think I'd prefer just to come home for the night. And one of your little parties doesn't particularly appeal to me. I may be German, but that doesn't necessarily make me a drinker, you know."

The pout that was no doubt on Misato's face was apparent in the whine she gave, "_Aww__, come on! It'll be fun! We could get Shinji drunk and make him do silly stuff!_"

While the thought of making the Third Child sing in a ridiculously slurred voice brought a smile to her lips, the cons easily outweighed the pros. "Not on your life, Misato. Look, just be sure to keep your big mouth shut until I show up, okay? I want it to be a surprise to as many people as possible—especially the asshole that thinks he can replace me, got it?"

"_Sure thing._ _ And Asuka?"_

"Yeah?" the blue-eyed woman asked as she set her luggage down to open the door.

"_Welcome home_."

"Yeah…" she said before turning the phone off and putting it away. Holding the door open with her hip, she picked up the suitcase and lugged it into the building, mentally steeling herself for the next twenty-four hours.

**Author's notes:**

Well, hope I managed to catch your interest.

Give me a week or two to get the next chapter (probably of similar length) written and run through "The Gauntlet." I'll try and keep updates as consistent as possible, but for quality's sake I refuse to rush.

Otherwise we get trash.

At any rate, feed back is always desired. As per norm you can IM me via AOL-ISM nickname "AvaritiaAbaddon" and my email address is "douyoku@hotmail.com". 

Keep on reading and keep on writing!

--Avarice


	3. Chapter 1: L'Esprit D'Escalier

_Disclaimer--  I_ don't own Eva and I don't want to.  Why the hell would anyone want to?  It's so damned scary and…well, better not say that.  Just don't sue me.

Special thanks to:  **SxStrgSamurai13 –** Reading and suggestions and early reflections

                              **BigDMT**            --Grammatical checks, suggestion, ideas, etc…****

**                              Xanatose               --**Anything and everything…from off the wall 

research for future chapters to grammatical and consistency checks, plot suggestions, references and interesting tidbits.  And that's only the beginning.

Appreciate it, you guys.  I seriously honestly, and truly would have thrown myself out a window or something equally stupid if you hadn't tossed me yourselves…

…Wait, that's not right.

**Chapter 1: **_ L'Esprit D'Escalier_

The warm, late-afternoon glow of the setting sun had cast the sky into a myriad of pastel shades of yellow, orange, and red with the occasional splash of purple and lavender towards the upper and opposing horizons, foreshadowing the forthcoming night.  The stars had already begun to shimmer faintly from their precarious perches, and the moon was clearly visible—though its glow was still faint as the sun continued to tenaciously shine, refusing to give the night one second more than it was due. 

A gentle breath of wind coasted its way down the nearby mountains and through the streets of the metropolis nestled neatly within the basin-like area.  By the time the gust of air made its way to the grassy knoll on the other side of the fortress-city known as Tokyo-3 it had become little more than the faintest licks of a breeze, but serving well at cooling the single occupant of the hill.

The lone figure lounged in the grass, legs stretched as far down from the torso as possible, feet pivoting on their heels, side to side and in opposition of one another.  The arms of the figure rested easily at their respective sides with the palms of the hands resting on the ground and the fingers idly caressing the accommodating grass in an almost appreciative gesture.

With his eyes closed and his breathing relaxed, Shinji Ikari succumbed to the sensation of the air blowing across the bare portion of his arms and lightly grazing his face.  Even the slightest contrast to the almost feverish heat of the constant summer climate was welcome, and the wind had not been blowing much of late so he had learned to enjoy such moments when they came to pass.

"_Isn't it funny how much people take simple things for granted?  When the day is sunny and beautiful they don't pay the idea a second thought, yet when it storms they curse nature.  The blessings are overlooked, and the misgivings get all the attention."_

Kaworu's words had struck home, as always, and lately Shinji had found himself more appreciative of the world and its simple pleasures, as well as being more attuned to his environment.  He had begun to appreciate both the sun and the moon and the stars; the wind and the calm air; the sunny days and the stormy nights; trees, grass…  All of these things he was more aware of, and he constantly found himself coming to this very same spot to enjoy as many of those things as he could on a regular basis.

Not to mention the solitude.  Though this area was public knowledge, the only people to ever frequent the area were Kaworu and himself.  It provided the boy with a feeling of solitude without filling him with the sense of isolation he had begun to develop from holing himself in his room.  He was alone, but he wasn't hidden, and he felt better in knowing that.

Typically he came here to relax; to enjoy time away from the crowds at school and on the streets and to avoid the responsibilities of keeping the apartment he shared with his guardian and superior officer.  It was his place of escape when he felt the burdens of the world begin to bear down on him, and his place to think things through when he had something on his mind. 

The young man's eyes slipped open as he felt a sudden urge to watch the sunset rather than simply imagine it, and he found the actual image far more appealing than the one he had attempted to paint in his mind's eye.  He had long ago learned that sunsets were like a kaleidoscope in the fact that the next picture would never be like any of the ones before—each one was unique in its own way—and thus he made a point to watch every last one he possibly could.

A red section of the sky caught his eye, and before he even realized why he felt a wave of memories surge forth from the back of his head.  

"_His selection as a pilot must have been a joke, right?_"

"_You're such an idiot._"

"_There's nothing worse than a house-broken male._"

"_I hate you!_"

Shinji's eyes snapped back shut as he tried to shove the unwanted recollections back into the recesses of his mind, wanting nothing more than to forget the awful events.  Though he knew he thought of the person who had spoken so harshly to and of him—and quite often at that—he tried to recall her outside of the more negative context.  

_Heh__, if I only remember the nice things there's not a whole lot left to remember,_ he mused to himself in an attempt to lighten his suddenly dark mood.

Suddenly the dark-haired youth was very aware of himself—his increased heart rate; his painfully clenched jaw; the patch of grass and dirt his right hand had ripped from the ground; the ferocity he had squeezed his eyes shut with…all in an effort to suppress an unfavorable piece of his past.

He had managed to think of her only positively over the last few months; remembering only her confident approach to everything and her strong laughter in response to anything that was a probable threat, her skill and grace as she piloted the red monstrosity known as Evangelion Unit-02.  These were the things he allowed himself to associate with that particular person over the last several months, yet tonight things were different.  The things he had been trying to forget for so long came bubbling to the surface slowly, starting first with the events during the several months he had known the girl.

Wearily he passed his left hand over his face, suddenly feeling the events of the last two days catch up with him all at once.  Try as he might there seemed to be no route of escape for him.  

This time, he couldn't run away.

The level of turmoil that suddenly began to rage within the young man starkly contrasted with the serenity of his surroundings.  Already he could feel the demons of his past growling in anticipation at the thought of being able to haunt his mind yet again.  They had allowed him to believe he had bested them and had expunged them from his memory forever, only to find they had merely hidden within the deeper level of his thoughts, waiting for the precise time to pounce upon him and continue to eat away with what was left of his soul.

"Penny for your thoughts?" someone interrupted from above and behind the boy—near the lone tree on the hillside.  As if on cue a much stronger—though not uncomfortably so—breeze rushed across the area, cooling all that it touched.

Shinji didn't have to turn to know who had spoken the words.  He only knew one person that would use such a western expression in Japanese, and found his sudden outcropping of worries flittering away with the wind that had just raked through the growing stubble on his face.  "Just thinking about the last two days is all," he remarked as calmly as he could.

There came a shuffling noise, and out the corner of his eyes he saw one of his closer friends sit down on the grass next to him, one leg bent at the knee with both forearms crossed and resting on it while the other stretched out before the boy.  Dressed in almost identical attire to the young man lounging next to him, the only real difference between the two was their coloring and facial features.  Beyond that their physiques seemed to mirror one-another.  

"You were thinking about the return of the Second Child and its implications and impact, you mean," the other male said in his light and soothing voice.

"That, too," the Third Child chuckled, feeling all the tenseness in his body fade away with the next gentle gust of wind.  He knew Kaworu would listen, and even understand—or at least attempt to—his problems.

"I never knew her personally before today, but if the tales that tend to float around NERV are true it seems she has changed little since she left," the scarlet-eyed boy remarked, his eyes locked on the sun as it began to burn the last embers of the day from behind the mountain opposing their current position.

The younger of the two boys patted his hands on the thighs of his pants before folding them behind his head and watching the growing darkness that was the welkin of the night.  "It's too soon to tell, but I'm pretty sure you're right."

Nagisa's eyes tightened slightly as he continued to watch the sun fade away.  "Is it not amazing how quickly the sun sets and rises, yet during the day it hardly seems to move at all?"

"Huh?" was Shinji's confused response.

"When the sun rises in the morning, it seems to be in a hurry to get up into the sky, and when it sets in the evening it seems to be in a hurry to leave, but when it's in the sky it seems to take its time.  Have you not noticed as much?"

To this the dark blue-eyed boy could only frown as he considered his friends words.  "Well, now that you mention it I guess so."

"Don't you think that people are sometimes the same way?  In the beginning change is rapid, as in the end…but in the middle the change seems less drastic," the grey-haired young man spoke philosophically.

"Err?  I'm afraid I don't follow."

"Do not worry about it.  I was merely thinking aloud is all.  Do you wish to speak of what troubles you?"

Rather than affirm his friend's question, the young pilot simply began to speak of precisely what was on his mind.  "I don't know what to do.  I thought I knew what would happen when I met her again, but it didn't take me ten seconds to make her angry with me."

(-----)

"Oh, that's pretty easy when you think of it like that," Shinji said, scribbling furiously in his notebook at the problem his companion for the evening had helped him with.  "Where did you learn it like that?  The teacher didn't explain it that way."

Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear in a gesture that seemed to be almost automated, the young woman across the table sat erect in her chair, her slender figure not touching the back of her chair at all.  "Doctor Akagi is well versed in all forms of mathematics."

The young man simply blinked.  "Ritsuko…?  Well, I guess that makes sense, her being a scientist and all…  But how did you get her to help you?  I mean, she's always so busy…"

At that the pale blue-haired girl shrugged slightly, gripping the small porcelain cup of tea and bringing it to her lips, her eyes closing as she sipped the warm fluid.  She repeated the gesture two more times before answering.  "Commander Ikari ordered her to assist me."

With the mention of his father's name, the younger Ikari's face creased harshly with a frown, the light stubble from having not shaved since the day before enhancing the lines on his face.  "Oh.  That makes sense, then."  Without another word he moved on to the next problem.  

The new approach he had just learned helped him progress steadily, and within a quarter of an hour he was finished.  He closed his book and began to put away his supplies, quickly scanning his mind for the possible things he and Rei might be able to do to pass a little more time together.  Noticing her cup was empty; he decided to start there.

"Could I get you some more tea?  Or something else to eat?" he inquired, attempting to make an effort of being a good host.

Rei shook her head almost imperceptibly, yet enough to cause the lock of hair she had tucked behind her ear to fall loose again.  Quite habitually she reached up with her slender hand and simply put it back in place.  "I do not require anything as of the moment."

Shinji's brow furrowed slightly as he again ran through his repertoire of things his guest may find entertaining.  "How about some television, or maybe some music?"

Again her response came in the form of a negative.  "No, they would serve no purpose.  If you have completed your assignment and my presence is no longer required, then I should be leaving."

"Umm…" he began, quickly considering the words he suddenly felt he should say.  "You could…stay…if you want to.  I mean, it would be nice if you did.  You know, just to hang out?"

"It is getting late," Ayanami replied in her soft, yet matter-of-fact voice.  "I must retire for the evening in preparation for the school tomorrow, as well as the synchronization tests."

"Can I, err…well, that is…do you mind if I walk you home?"

The young woman blinked, clearly perplexed.  "What for?  You would only have to turn around and come back here.  It would serve no practical purpose."  

There was a pause as she watched her host shift uncomfortably with his eyes cast towards the floor.  It was apparent he was at a loss, not having anticipated either of her answers and unable to offer anything further.

"The gesture is appreciated, however," she amended, obviously taking note of his dejected reaction.  Turning to leave, she looked over her shoulder where the boy stood.  "I am departing now."

"Wha?" he asked, vigorously shaking his head to clear it.  "Right, of course.  I'll walk you to the elevator.

Silently the pair made their way to the doorway, slipping on their shoes.  Shinji picked up the girl's shoulder bag, insisting to himself he would at least carry it part of the way.  To his surprise the young woman didn't question him on the matter.  He opened the door and gestured for her to precede him, and they made their way down the open-faced corridor to their not-so-far-off destination.

Pressing the button, the young Ikari skimmed for even the most refined or base topics the two might talk about during their wait.  He knew there wasn't much time to speak, but he felt as if he needed to say _something_ to her.  When he was alone he could easily come up with topics to discuss with her, yet every time the opportunity presented itself, his words failed him.  This time he was determined to at least get something out.  "Ayanami?" he began, though a bit nervously.

"Yes, Ikari?"

"Err…thanks…tonight…for your help," he stammered despite his best efforts not to do so.

She blinked and tilted her head a bit to the side.  "You are…welcome," she replied, the words fumbling slightly from her mouth.  His words had pleased her visibly, however clumsy they might have been, and her eyes tightened slightly as if she might smile, though her lips never waned. 

The elevator beeped, and he frowned at the device as though it had betrayed him.  He slung the satchel off his shoulder and offered it to the girl.

Wordlessly the woman took the bag, hefting the strap onto her own shoulder, stepping towards the sliding metal doors that had just begun to open.  A single stride forward and she was on the other side of the threshold, pivoting gracefully on her heel towards the elevator panel.  With a delicate and outstretched hand she pressed the button that would take her to the ground level, and three seconds later the painted doors drew together, entombing the girl in the small confines of the movable room as it began its descent.

For several moments the pilot stood staring at the doors, growing frustrated with himself.  No sooner had the girl left his line of sight than all of the things he had previously conjured to speak with her about came rushing back to him like a tsunami.  

A thought crossed his mind and he released a detached snort of amusement.  _Even when I don't run away I'm a coward.  The only difference between the two is when I stay there's someone to point the finger at…_

(-----)

"Being a little harsh on our self there, weren't we?" Nagisa asked from where he lay in the grass next to his friend.  

Their postures as they lay on the grass seemed to mirror one-another as they gazed at the stars while one spoke and the other listened attentively.  The sun had long since given up on its fight on this hemisphere, deigning to favor the next and giving the two a clear view of the night sky.  Neither had any idea of the exact time, nor did they care.

"It's the truth, though.  Whether I run away or stand my ground…it never makes a difference because I don't know what to do," the other boy remitted, glancing at his friend through the corner of his eye.

Kaworu smiled.  "In my experience I've noticed you tend to surprise people more than let them down.  You feel people expect much of you and you fear to let them down, yet you fail to notice you always manage to do the unimaginable.  When I hear some of the stories of your past accomplishments—before my arrival that is—I am left amazed at how someone as fragile as you has managed to bear the burden you do.  But then, I'm just repeating myself—you're much stronger than you appear at face-value."

The Third Child blushed at the obvious compliment, though it was several seconds before he fully comprehended his friend's words.  "I…don't know…" he mumbled.

"It's funny," the scarlet-eyed boy continued as he began shifting his field of vision towards the stars to the west.  "The way you act sometimes, that is."

"How so?" Shinji asked, trying to speak in a philosophical tone like his friend and failing miserably as his voice squeaked unexpectedly.

"Rather than accept a compliment and revel in it, you draw away from them.  You say things and do things for the sake of praise as you've told me numerous times before, yet when you receive such you seem almost afraid.  Do you not feel your endeavors are commendable?"

Now the Third Child began to shift uncomfortably, as if the stars themselves were scrutinizing him from the heavens.  "Well, no…not exactly…"

"Do they scare you?" the older male asked.  "The words of praise, I mean.  It seems to me that you are afraid to be placed on a pedestal.  That if people see the real inner strength you possess they will expect too much of you, and you will be forced to perform or let them down."

"Uh…that is…" Ikari murmured as he considered the words, "…maybe…"

"You underestimate yourself, but it keeps you from being arrogant.  Humbleness is a quality few Lillim have, from what I've seen.  I like that in you.  A true hero neither asks for the responsibility, yet he does not back down from that which is given to him.  He remains humble in his accomplishments and belittles them himself," the pilot of Unit-02 intercalated, his tone reflective.

"I'm not a hero," the other retorted, his pitch one of self-disgust.  "I'm just a bungler.  A lot of people died or got hurt because of me."

"Even more were saved.  And your argument only furthers to prove my point.  But if you chose not to admit it to yourself that is fine as well.  I'll not press the matter."  

The two lapsed into several moments of pensive silence, one digesting the words that had just been spoken while the other simply watched the depths of twilight, his own thoughts unspoken.

"So you were distraught about your losing the opportunity to speak with Ayanami.  The French have a term for that kind of situation, you know.  They say it as 'L'Espirit D'Escalier.'  It's where you think of the things that might have changed the outcome of an event by saying or doing something differently.  But that can't be what's bothering you, since you admitted your concerns were more centered on the Second Child."

At the mention of the fiery-mannered redhead, the younger man issued a quiet groaning sound.  "I was just getting to that part…"

(-----)

With a sigh of resignation Shinji slumped down into the cushions of the sofa.  Accepting his fate to be him forever blowing perfect opportunities, he reached over onto the end table where he kept the remote for the television, consenting to spend the remainder of the evening frying what was left of his brain cells. 

Before long the third member of the household "perched" next to the boy, the small, soft-feathered body sinking heavily into the padding.  It made not a sound as it contentedly watched whatever his roommate decided on.  Long ago it had established the rule of "whoever so holds the remote controls that which the audience shall watch."  Considering the majority of the time the bird himself possessed the device and the others abided by his unwritten, unspoken rule, he found the small sacrifice of "half-an-hour-before-Shinji-gets-bored-and-leaves" to be more than worth the wait.

This time the Spheniscidae was in luck, as it only took his "keeper" ten minutes to get tired of the television and relinquish the household relic.  However, when the bird noticed his comrade make his way towards the kitchen, he followed as the opportunity of food took priority even over the animal documentary he had planned to watch.

Pen Pen stood directly underfoot, making sure he would be in the way so as to "innocently" capture Shinji's attention.  Once he had achieved that, he had only to make a cute chirp and open his mouth wide, as if he were a chick, and food would definitely find its way to his stomach shortly thereafter.  The tactic was foolproof, and had worked every single time since the young man's arrival at the household, and would likely continue to work until one of them left.

Of course, if the younger Ikari left, the penguin would come up with some plan to stow away.  While Misato was a nice pet and all, Shinji was a much better cook and watched a lot less television—the two things Pen Pen enjoyed the most.  Though he would have to give up the alcohol he had learned to like, it was yet another small sacrifice in the face of a greater cause.

"Didn't I just feed you?" came the pilot's skeptical query.

The bird shook its head vigorously in a negative.  Had it fingers, it might have crossed them.

Still a bit cynical on the situation, the Third Child merely shrugged, releasing another—though slightly amused—sigh.  "Well, they say that most birds eat twice their own body weight to begin with…"

Several bobbing gestures on the beaked animal's part indicated an agreement with the statement.

"Fine, but you get to eat it raw.  I _know_ I must have fed you when Ayanami and I ate…"  

Within moments the bird found his bowl filled with the forms of three fresh fish Shinji had acquired from the market earlier that day.  No doubt the dark-haired youth had caught onto the game long ago, as he was certainly prepared for the scenario every time.

(-----)

"Is he really like that?" Kaworu jumped in suddenly.  "That domesticated, I mean.  Birds make fascinating pets, I have heard, but I never imagined them to be so cunning and…devious."

"Pen Pen?" Shinji almost laughed the word.  "Sometimes I think he's got a manipulating streak up his back wider than…well, my father's."

The Fifth Child chuckled.  "It would not surprise me.  At least your pet's intentions are much less…'malignant', shall I say?  Or rather, they seem so."

They shared a laugh for a few moments before the older, oddly colored male gestured for his friend to continue with his story.

(-----)

"I'm home!" came a loud cry from the foyer connecting the front door to the rest of the household.  "What's for dinner?"

Having just finished completing the dishes and cleaning the slight mess in the dining area, the lone male human in the household ceased untying his apron, retightening the leads, chuckling to himself.  _Don't even know what was going through my head to think I was done for the night…_ he mused to himself.  Not that he minded at all—it was the least he could do for his overworked guardian.  "What do you want?"

Misato padded into the area with only her stockings on her feet from the hallway.  "Something fancy would actually be pretty nice.  But if you're not up to it any old thing would do," she said as she took her customary seat on the table, her feet propped up as she proceeded to unceremoniously remove the thigh-high articles without a second thought.

For his part, Shinji had learned to simply ignore his guardian's brazenness—though, truth be told, he still found it a bit disconcerting.  "What do you mean fancy?" he asked, slightly confused as to the uncustomary reply.

"We don't have any steak you could grill up, do we?  Or maybe some stuff to make shish kabob?  It doesn't have to be too spectacular, but I think it would be good to have something a little special for tonight," the woman replied, a small, enigmatic smile on her face.

"I…can probably come up with something…" He peered at his guardian a bit suspiciously, as she was acting a bit out of the norm.  Eventually he decided it was simply her being silly.  "You'll be the only one eating, though.  But if it's what you want…"

The Major looked at the watch on her left wrist and made a whistling sound.  "Wow.  I guess I got off a bit later than I thought…"

"It's earlier than normal," the other responded.  "I'll make enough for two, though.  That way you can eat whatever and I'm sure Pen Pen wouldn't mind eating the rest."

By now the middle-aged woman had discarded her gauze-like leg-wear and proceeded to massage her feet.  "Two…I guess that should be all right, though it would be nice to eat as a family for a change…"  

Something in the tone of her voice caught Shinji's attention.  At times he couldn't help but remember the fact that his guardian had no one else that could come even close to being considered "family," what, with Asuka gone, and Mister Kaji…  "Uh, well…I guess I could eat a little mo-"

"Great!" she exuberated.  "Then make three people's worth!  It'll be great!"

Had he been in a manga or anime like the ones he occasionally watched on television, the boy might have sweat-dropped at the sudden, enthusiastic outburst.  

"Err…well…okay…if you say so…" he answered, his voice growing smaller with each word.

(-----)

Within half an hour the dark-haired boy had the small hibachi grill fired up and the six skewers worth of yakitori sizzling on the cage-face.  Usually grilling wasn't allowed in the apartment complex, but even after all this time few people lived in the residential building, and since it was NERV-owned the person in charge rarely complained about anything that happened within the Katsuragi abode.

Touji had been the one to teach the young Ikari how to grill properly, using charcoals strategically placed along the bottom of the pit, and how to use the more expensive, aromatic coals rather than the cheap, easily bought ones.  Normally he would let the graphite pieces soak for quite some time before lighting them up, as they tended to cook better that way, but Misato had been rather insistent that she was hungry, and thus he was working as quickly as possible.

He flipped the vegetables on the flat piece of metal he had resting over to the side of the chicken.  Despite the fact that he had already eaten with Rei, he was beginning to feel more and more like he could stomach at least half of a plate.  It was rare he had the opportunity to eat like this, and he decided that passing it up would be somewhat of a waste.

Once he thought the tori was cooked thoroughly and the assortment of vegetables was completed, he proceeded to chop them up before placing them on the plate.  Covering the knee-high grill—he had received it as a "grilling graduation gift" from his older housemate and superior officer—so that the coals would burn out themselves, he carried the food to the dining area, where plates awaited him.  All he had now was to fetch the rice he had set to cook before starting the grill and dinner would be served.

"What smells so good?" a new voice asked from the back of the apartment—towards the bathroom.

"Shinji's just whipping us up a nice, home-cooked Japanese meal worthy of a family is all!" Misato quipped from her bedroom, where she had gone to change into her less-than-formal garb.

"Well, I'm going to take a shower.  Don't start without me, okay?"

The third party's voice seemed altogether foreign in its accent, but unlike anything he had heard before.  However, the young man paid it little mind as he was much busier chopping the still sizzling chicken breasts into smaller pieces before skewering them on the shish kabob sticks, but he had been warned to work quickly.  It wouldn't be as good as normal, but edible nonetheless.

Once the stakes of chicken had been prepared, he divided them out, two on each plate.  Then he placed a helping of rice on each of the three platters before moving back to the kitchen to prepare the tea.

The owner of the household came into the dining room, flopping down into her chair.  "All right!  Now this is what I call a traditional Japanese meal!  Hey, you remembered the shichimi, right?"  

"Yeah, I'll get it here in a second.  I still have to fix the tea.  Who's in the bathroom?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, just a temporary house guest.  You don't mind, do you?  She'll be moving into her own place in a week or so."

"No, it's no bother.  Is that why you wanted enough for three people?" he inquired as he came from his little culinary corner of the household with a fancy-looking tea set.

"Yup!  She talks kinda funny, but that's because she's been in America for awhile.  I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised," the woman assured, winking playfully.

(-----)

"You realize there isn't much suspense in this telling, don't you?  Not to ruin your story or anything, but it's fairly obvious who your 'house guest' really is by this point."

Shinji shifted uncomfortably.  "Well…that is…I wasn't trying for suspense.  I really didn't think much of it.  I knew she had a bit of an accent before she left, but this new one was totally different.  It was there, but not really…more like she _didn't_ have one that made it so…well, 'profound' I guess."

Kaworu nodded.  "It is rather distinct, and definitely not unattractive.  Did you not recognize it, though?  Her voice is rather…unique…in its texture.  Not many have such a range of octaves…or rather, not in my experience."

"It was kind of muffled.  Normally I would have gone to investigate, but…well, I guess I was just thinking about other stuff at the time…  I don't know…maybe I just wasn't thinking at all," the other admitted with a heavy sigh.  "I just don't know…"

"Well, we're all entitled to make mistakes.  It's one of the freedoms granted to man upon his creation.  By realizing he is a flawed existence, man brings himself that much closer to the actualization to his true potential," the fair-haired boy said.

"Yeah," the Third Child agreed.  "I don't understand all that, but it sounds…I dunno, 'right' I guess."

The older of the two young men hummed a few bars of a nameless tune for no apparent reason.  "'Right' and 'wrong' are defined by the individual.  If you feel what I have said is 'right' then that simply means either your views and values in life intersect with my own at that one point or you have not yet found your own path to follow."

Ikari laughed.  "You're going over my head now…I can only comprehend so much…but I think I get what you said there."

"You amaze me…do you realize that?" Nagisa commented, his head shifting from its stargazing position to focus full on his companion's countenance.  "So simple, and yet so complex.  I can't think of any example more…_real_…to represent the paradox of human nature.  You should guard your innocence with great care…with your sincerity humanity may yet triumph over its greatest trial…  I fear, however, that it may break your heart."

Shinji didn't offer a reply to that, as he was lost on words.  Suddenly pensive to broach the subject at hand, he decided to continue recounting his initial re-encounter with the person that had brought him here this evening.

(-----)

"Well…I guess…whatever," the young man replied to his guardian, though he felt the sudden weight of disappointment hanging heavy in his chest.  _So much for eating as a family…why didn't she just say she had company coming?_ he thought, slightly bitter over Misato lying to him.

The older woman picked up her cup of tea and took a tentative sip, wincing as soon as the liquid touched her lips.  "Hotter than I thought…" she muttered, then noticing the look on her charge's face she scowled.  "Hey!  Brighten up, buster!  With a face like that someone might get the idea that our happy little household is dysfunctional or something," she scolded as she made a flamboyant gesture with one hand while setting the tea down.

"It _is_ dysfunctional…" Shinji mumbled as he removed his apron and took his seat.  Grabbing the small shichimi shaker, he began to attempt to sprinkle his plate of yakitori with the spices.

Having already brought the cup of tea to her mouth for another sip, she eyed the boy from around the rim of the porcelain ware, but said nothing to counter his soft-spoken remark.  Suddenly an idea popped in her mind.  "Hey!  Don't we have a bottle of sake somewhere?"

"Not anymore," her roommate stated, playing with the lid of the shaker, wondering why it wouldn't yield any of its contents.  "You're not supposed to be drinking…remember?"

The woman 'hmphed' and sat back in her chair with her arms crossed in a mock sulk.  "Party-pooper.  This is a _special_ occasion!"

"Whatever…" the young Ikari grumbled as he poked at the holes in the shaker with one of the ornamental chopsticks he had placed on the table.

"Give me that!" she growled irritable, practically lunging across the table and snagging the bottle.  She proceeded to lightly pepper her food before offering the shaker back to her cross-looking subordinate.

"Don't start eating until your guest shows up," he chided, not even looking up from his own plate of food as he interspersed the peppers.  There was no doubt in his mind the woman had tried to sneak a quick bite while he wasn't watching.

"Geez, you're awful grouchy tonight…" Misato grumbled, though she _had _put back the piece of chicken she had tried to nab off her shish kabob skewer.  "Party-pooper," she reiterated.

"What're you two _kids_ blabbing about?" came the sudden voice of the houseguest that had managed to make herself an interloper in the "family" squabble.

Shinji looked up to see who it was he would be sharing his home with for the next several days and he felt the blood in his veins freeze.  The room suddenly felt extremely cold to the young man, and time itself seized up for a moment.

The young woman looked over the boy critically, her blue eyes eventually settling on the plate of food that had suddenly been completely coated in red pepper and other spices, as the lid to the shaker had come loose and spilled the entirety of the flasks contents.  "That's going to be pretty hard to eat, now," she remarked dryly as an auburn eyebrow lanced upward and a cynical expression covered her features.

"B-but you…!  I mean, you're…" the perplexed boy looked to his guardian, who was grinning from ear to ear.  "Why-? How…?" his eyes eventually shifted down to the plate his former coworker and classmate had indicated, but paid it little heed as he looked back at the woman clad in sweat pants and a loose-fitting t-shirt who had her hands resting on her hips.  "…When…?"

"Idiot.  I know I'm _that_ good looking and you're _that_ dumb, but the least you could do is show the common courtesy of finishing a sentence.  I don't even think the thought went completely though that thin skull of yours," she admonished, taking her seat and grabbing the unclaimed plate.  "And you wasted all the spices, so now I gotta eat this stuff plain.  You're so rude.  And you didn't even fix my tea the way I like it!  What kind of host are you supposed to _be_ anyway?"

"…Misato…?" He practically pleaded the name, his voice little more than a hoarse whisper.

"I _knew_ you'd be surprised!" the Major seemed absolutely glib with the whole situation.  "Isn't this great?"

His mind unable to keep up with the sudden whir of events, the young man did the only thing that his brain deemed logical:  he fainted.

(-----)

Kaworu laughed, unable to help himself.  "Did you really pass out at the dinner table?"

The younger man's ears had turned red with his blush.  "Yeah…  I've never done it just from being surprised like that, but my mind was on overload or something.  I didn't even wake up until the next morning…or at least I don't remember anything until then."

"Indeed.  We were called before school and notified there would be tests.  That is when I met Miss Soryu for the first time.  I'll admit she is a fine looking woman, and her attitude makes her rather intriguing.  I'm sure, however, she dislikes me rather intensely," the crimson-eyed youth noted.

"She's like that a lot…  But then, you _are_ her replacement, so I can sort of understand where she's coming from as well."  Shinji shifted uneasily as he considered the implementations of his next sentence.  "Odds are…well, I doubt she'll ever warm up to you because of you filling in her position.  She's got her pride and all that…"

Nagisa turned his face towards his friend, an eyebrow quirked up slightly.  "Pride is a sin, you know."

Several seconds passed by as the shocked Ikari let those words sink in so he could formulate a proper reply.  "I…I guess it could be…maybe.  But her pride is…I don't know… It's kind of…well, 'inspiring' I guess would be the right word.  When she showed up the first time I was just amazed by her confidence."

"If you ask me," the other began, his tone wry with amusement, "it seemed to do more damage than good in the end.  You did little more than use her as an escape route—a skirt to hide behind if you will."

Again the younger male squirmed where he lay, for his friends' words weighed heavy with the truth.  "Yeah…but now I think I'm okay.  I don't like Eva, but it's a necessary evil, I guess.  I'm the only one that can pilot Unit One…I don't like it, but it's something only I can do…right?"

Rather than give a direct response, Kaworu simply smiled at the sky, though the gesture was really aimed at his companion.  Several minutes passed before he broke the silence.  "I wonder…"

"Huh?"

"I wonder.  If something is necessary…" his head turned to the side where he was looking at Shinji, "…how can it be evil?  Self-preservation is a quality in all living things, as is procreation.  Humans are really the only ones that think of their species as a whole, but all other creatures try and protect their own kind on a much smaller scale, so fighting and dying that other members of the 'herd' or 'flock' might survive also seems to be preprogrammed in living things."

The dark-haired boy ran his fingers through the pelt on his head as he tried to comprehend what his fellow pilot was attempting to explain.  "So…?" he asked timidly in an effort to urge elaboration.

"So, then how is what you're doing evil?  What I'm getting at, is that protecting your fellow man isn't any sort of 'evil.'  If anything it's the ultimate form of good—and that you're willing to suffer the pain that comes with piloting Eva makes the deed all the more commendable."  His eyes wandered back to the stars, his smile gone.  "Eva in itself is the only thing really wrong in this world.  Had man not created them I think there wouldn't _be_ any Angels."

"It…kind of makes sense…but if they hadn't been made and the Angels still showed up…" the Third Child left the sentence hanging, knowing full and well he didn't have to explain any further.

The Fifth let out a small chuckle.  "Touché, mister Ikari.  It was just hypothetical speculation.  So how about telling me what happened this morning when you woke up?  I must say I've never heard of someone fainting for such a long period of time, but I suppose you're under enough strain as it is."

Shinji crossed his ankles and folded his hands behind his head, taking a deep breath and releasing it only a split second later.  "Well, I woke up…"

(-----)

When his eyes opened, the world seemed to be coated in a foggy haze—but this was most likely due to the fact that his mind itself seemed a bit muddled.  While this was typical for him first thing in the morning in actuality, this time seemed a bit worse than the norm.  Realizing he was on the couch rather than his own bed, his mind quickly became alert as he was made aware of the previous night's happenings.

"Asuka!" the young man breathed, sitting up bolt right.  He looked around in a panic, unsure if he had dreamed the whole ordeal or not.

Silence and darkness were all that awaited his anxious eyes.  The world outside was still enveloped in the predawn dimness and the entire apartment was cloaked in the shadows of sleep.  The stillness of the small household was comforting, and the young man felt a great deal of tension release from his body all at once.

_Just a dream…_ he thought, feeling like rolling over and going back to sleep.  He couldn't afford the luxury, however, and groggily slid his feet to the ground and stood.  His hand mopped across his face, then rubbed his eyes with his forefinger and thumb to remove the sand-like crust deposit that had developed over the night.  He made his way to his bedroom to grab a fresh change of clothes before taking a quick morning shower.

Once he was in the shower and had a steady flow of chilled water running down his back, he felt his mind become more conscious of the previous nights events.  His mental image of the girl as she may look at the present seemed far too vivid for it to have been any sort of dream, and her voice seemed all too real to him.  There was no longer a doubt in his mind that the previous night's occurrences had been very tangible.

_So…what do I make of it?_ he asked himself as he watched the water fall from his downcast face to the porcelain floor of the shower.  The beads of water pooled together as more fell from above before rolling down toward the oblivion that was the drain, never to be seen again by the young man.  

_Should I be excited that she's back?  _

_Should I be angry?  _

_Do I apologize for being so harsh?  _

_Why wasn't she angry?  _

_Has she already forgiven me?_

The questions swam through his mind like the droplets of water that fell from the tips of his soaked hair and ran down his body to the floor, pooling up over the top of his head.  Hundreds and thousands of them, developing first tubs full, then a small lake, and quickly building into a veritable ocean that sloshed violently within him as he couldn't formulate answers quickly enough to equalize the pressure gaining between his ears.

Before long the splashing of the water against his skin began to irritate him, as did the sound of the running liquid—neither were particularly helping to allay the "watery" feeling he had begun to feel, and the empty slurping sound the drain had provided little comfort to him as well.  If he simple purged the questions from his mind it wouldn't solve anything, and letting them stew was not an option.

_I'll ask her,_ the young man concluded as he washed soap from his face.  _Maybe just one or two at a time, but I'll ask.  Her answers will help me find my own._

Having finished taking care of his personal hygiene, Shinji decided to take care of the other matter that came with the morning before school—breakfast.

"Jeez, took you long enough in there!" a groggy-looking Asuka mumbled from just on the other side of the door, startling the young man as he made his exit.

She was clad in a long-sleeved cotton shirt and long, pajama-style pants with her socks tucked beneath the elastic band around her ankles.  Despite having obviously just woken up, her hair was fairly neat—as if she had brushed it before even leaving her room—and her eyes belied her complete alertness in spite of the fatigued look her face wore.  

"I-well, that is…umm…" without even realizing it he found himself studying her countenance, amazed and confused at the sudden novelty he found in her face.

One of the young woman's thin, auburn eyebrows arched upward and her sapphire eyes twinkled slightly with amusement.  "Are you going to stand there and gawk at me all morning or get out of the way so I can go to the bathroom?" she inquired archly.

"Huh-what?  Oh!  Sorry…" he murmured, moving quickly out of the redhead's way.

"I know you are," she grumbled irritably.  "Now go make me something to eat."

Before he could get another word in, the door slid shut in the Third Child's face and he was left alone in the hallway.  He sighed heavily as he realized some things would simply never change.  

(-----)****

Half an hour had passed and neither of the children had exchanged a word, eating in silence and then simply sitting in the company of the other—though the situation was far from comfortable or relaxing.  Several times Shinji had attempted to open a conversation, only to back down each time.  He had no idea where to begin, nor where to go once he started.

For her part, Asuka seemed bored, her empty plate shoved aside and her head nestled where her arms were folded on the table in front of her.  

"Umm…"

"What time do you have school?" the girl broke in, cutting off the boy.

"I need to leave in about fifteen minutes," he answered; relieved she had broken the ice for him, though he had no idea why she had asked such a question.

"Huh.  That's a little earlier than when we used to leave for middle-school," she remarked, picking her head up.

"Longer walk," he replied.  "So…um, what're you going to be doing today?"

"Does anyone walk with you to school?" she asked, side-stepping his question without hesitation.

Shinji blinked.  "Well, no, not from here.  I usually meet up with the guys and Hikari about halfway.  Sometimes Aya-" he stopped short at seeing the fiery woman's expression darken considerably.  

"What about on the way home?"

He thought it over for a moment.  "Well, sometimes.  It depends if there're tests.  Occasionally I invite Kaworu over for dinner, or-" he cut himself shy again, realizing he should totally avoid the subject of Rei Ayanami when in the presence of his former co-worker.

"…Or?" she prodded, her eyes narrowed to slits.

"Well…" he began, uncertain as how to reply without incurring the girl's wrath, "…sometimes Hikari comes over every now and again to help me with homework."  It hadn't been a lie, for occasionally the Class Representative _did_ assist him with his assignments.

The young woman's only response was to lean back in her chair, arms crossed and a disapproving scowl on her face.  "Fine, but if I find out you've been having the Commander's plaything over here and she's been in my room…" she left it hanging, her expression smug, even humored at some unspoken thought.

"She isn't my Fa-she's not the Commander's 'plaything,'" he countered quickly, thinking only of standing up for the honor of his absent friend.  "And she hasn't been in your room." 

Asuka's eyes had widened, revealing she hadn't been expecting that reply.  Her shocked expression shifted to a censorious glower and she settled back in her seat.  "Fine.  Whatever.  It's not like I could care any less what you do with the little _doll_."  With a huff she stood, her palms smacking on the table as she did so.  "You're a big boy now, and I suppose just jerking off wouldn't be enough to take care of all those hormonal urges you probably have.  Better her than me, I say."

Shinji's face turned beet red, though her accusations had no grounds simply the thought of such things made him blush.  "I…it-it's not like that!" he sputtered.

"Hmph."  Her nose turned up and away from the boy, obviously confident she once again held the upper hand.  "Whatever.  Like I'm going to believe a pervert like you."

Before he could form any sort of protest, a buzzing sound filled the room briefly, indicating someone was at the door.  Thinking it a great opportunity for escape, he quickly stood and made his way down the foyer.  Curious, he opened the door to see who might be showing up at such an early time.

"Pilot Ikari," Rei Ayanami whispered in her quiet voice, bowing her head respectfully.

"Ah-Ah-Ayanami!" he stammered, astonished and totally perplexed by her sudden arrival.  His hand smacked over his mouth as soon as he realized how loudly he had spoken.

"Oh, that's just _peachy_!" Asuka blurted, her face flushing red.  "Not only does he _lie_ to me, but she shows up early enough that they can do a bit of hanky-panky before class!  You're both disgusting!"  She stormed off into her room, slamming the sliding door for good measure.

The azure-haired girl blinked, confused.  "I apologize if my arrival comes as an inconvenience," she stated, her voice calm and sure in its words.  Before the boy could make any sort of protest she began explaining.  "Major Katsuragi contacted me a few moments ago, notifying me that all pilots are to report directly to NERV headquarters rather than school.  She asked me to retrieve Pilot Soryu and yourself."

"But…" he started, his brow furrowing, "…why didn't she just call?"

"The Major felt I should come in the case that you nor Pilot Soryu would be awake to receive the call.  Her only other option would have been Section Two Security, but she felt such an action would not sit well with either of you and sent me instead."  The girl's head tipped slightly to the side.  "Is this a problem?"

"No," Shinji sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat at the whole recent exchange of events.  "No problem at all."

(-----)

"That was predictably ironic," the Fifth Child stated, the corners of his mouth tugging upward into a smile.  "Amusing, nonetheless."

The young Ikari sighed, nodding his agreement.  "Well, it's how it happened, though.  Sometimes I think there's some unknown force pulling me around by the ear, and it puts me in bad situations just to get a laugh out of my misfortunes.  Like there's some kind of audience that sees and watches everything I do like it's entertaining or something…  I just don't know, but it all seems pretty suspicious to me."

Kaworu gave his friend a sidelong glance from where he lay.  It was getting quite late, but he knew his friend needed to relieve himself of his current burden.  He decided to push his companion back on topic.  "I doubt if either of those entities exist, but it's not entirely impossible, I suppose.  Perhaps it's best if you try not to think of them.  So I take it you eventually talked Soryu out of her room to go to NERV with yourself and Ayanami?"

"Yeah.  But it wasn't a smooth-sailing trip.  You've seen how Asuka can get.  She started talking about stuff, too…on the way to NERV this morning, that is," the younger boy paused as he considered his current train of thought.  "I'm not sure exactly… It was kind of like she twisted the truth, but not on purpose, you know?  Like maybe she just remembered things wrong.  I just don't understand how anyone could remember stuff like what we went through incorrectly…"

"Why don't you tell me what she said?" the grey-haired boy urged, finding himself even more fascinated with the tale than he had been before.  

(-----)

"I don't even know why I put up with this crap," Asuka fumed as the trio moved down the sidewalk towards their common destination.  "I mean, _you_ guys owe _me_ for saving both of your worthless hides, you know."

Thinking the girl was simply going to spout out some tirade on how she was the best at everything she did, Shinji prepared to tune her out, planning only on pretending to listen while instead counting the breaks in the cement sidewalks.  _One, two, three…_

"Sometimes I wonder if it was worth me saving Wondergirl's ass from that last Angel."

_Four, five-huh?_

"Huh?" his voice echoed his thoughts and he suddenly found himself gawking openly at the back of the long-sleeve and turtleneck shirt the tall redhead walking several paces before him was wearing.  

To the right and a few paces in front of him, but also behind the German girl, Rei Ayanami's ruby eyes shifted their attention to the foreign girl.

The Second Child's face turned upward slightly, and her shoulders rolled back as her arms came up with her palms upturned while she walked.  "What do you mean 'huh'?  Don't tell me you already forgot my daring rescue of your precious little _toy_ that got me booted to the American branch for two years.  It really sucked over there, by the way."

Had she slapped him the effects might have not been more profound on the young man.  He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the teenage girl incredulously.  The way she had said it brought a chill down his spine, as her belief in her claim exemplified sincerity.  A pit began to develop in his stomach, and he knew something was seriously wrong with the situation.

"Your information is inacc-" Rei began to counter.  Before the second word had left her mouth, however, Shinji had all but leapt on the girl, his hand clapping audibly over her mouth to cut her off.

Asuka glanced over her shoulder in time to see the awkward scene of Shinji placing a hand over the First Child's mouth and his face next to her ear.  A feeling of disgust washed over the girl, and she let the ugly emotion reveal itself on her face.  "You two are sick!  Can't you at least wait till you're alone for that kind of crap?  Ugh!" she growled, storming ahead without looking back.

For her part, Rei didn't struggle against her friend's rash actions, knowing full and well such an uncharacteristic action wouldn't come to pass from the shy young man without good reason.  Initially he had caught her by surprise and she had tensed up considerably, but she quickly relaxed and patiently awaited his explanation.

Blushing furiously as he realized nearly every one of the early-morning pedestrians in the area had focused his or her attention on the two teenagers dressed in their school uniforms in a rather compromising posture in a public setting, the Third Child released his hold on her hand and removed his hand from over her mouth.  He took a step back from his co-worker and bowed.  "Sorry!"

"Why did you do that?" she asked, ignoring the apology and getting straight to the point.

He stood up, the red creeping from his face slowly, but the flush still more than evident.  "Well…I'm not sure, but I don't think it would be such a good idea to--"

"--Correct Soryu?" Ayanami finished.  Had she been anyone else, irritation might have been evident on her features, but her face remained a blank and emotionless mask, her tone perfectly neutral and even.  "Why?  Her information is inaccurate."

The young man turned away, unable to meet with the penetrating gaze of his long-time friend, as he knew she was right.  Nervously, he raked his fingers through his short, dark brown hair.  "I…I'm not sure…why…exactly.  I think maybe I should talk with Misato about it first, though.  I get the feeling…I don't know…"

Rei looked the suddenly sullen man she had befriended, and who had saved her life several times, then turned her gaze on the angry back of the girl that had now gained nearly a hundred meters from her previous position.  Finally she focused back on the young man before slowly nodding her consent.  

"Thank you, Ayanami," Shinji sighed heavily in relief, offering her a genuine smile of gratitude.

It was now her turn to blush, though hers was far more subtle despite her pale cheeks.  Wordlessly she turned to again walk the path that would take her to her destination.

(-----)****

Kaworu's face was marred with a frown, his brow contorted slightly as he pondered his friend's words.  "That is serious indeed.  Have you spoken with Major Katsuragi about this yet?"

"Not…yet," Shinji admitted, seemingly ashamed by the fact.  "I haven't had time to talk to Misato alone yet," he quickly explained at the disapproving look on the other male's face.

"The sooner you bring this to her attention the better.  There's no telling what could come from such a state of mind, but I don't foresee anything good," Nagisa stated, sincerely distraught with the recent revelation. 

Ikari nodded, sitting up and preparing to go home and report to his guardian that instant, when an arm shot out to stay him.  He looked confusedly over at the figure that the owned the appendage.

"You must finish your story first.  If you leave now, you will not have relieved yourself completely of your current burden, and you do not need to be under such strain.  Telling the Major soon is a necessity, but it doesn't have to be immediately.  First you must allay your own troubles before you should try and solve those of another," the crimson-eyed boy remarked sagely.

Shinji stared at his friend for a few seconds before relaxing into his sitting position.  He drew one leg up to him, leaving the other extended, and wrapped his hands around the bent limb, resting his chin on his knee and focusing his line of sight on the city, which seemed to have as many small points of illumination as the sky had stars.  "I guess it wouldn't do a whole lot of good right now, would it?  I'm still worried, though."

"If you weren't, then I'd be disappointed.  You truly care, and it shows in just about everything you say or do."

"Right…"

(-----)****

The last several blocks had gone by in silence for the trio.  Asuka, still in the lead, hadn't so much as turned to look at the two pilots that followed behind her, lost in the storm cloud of her own thoughts.  Rei had simply kept to herself, trailing behind and to the left of the taller redhead by two meters.

Shinji, on the other hand, perked up at the suddenly familiar scenery.  Knowing full and well he was nearing the place where he customarily met one of his closest friends on the way to school.  The further they moved along their course, the brighter his mood seemed to get, as if each step were bringing him to closer to something with the power to repair any and all of the damages his day had suffered thus far.  Before long his footsteps picked up a bit of a bounce in them, and a faint smile tugged deftly at the corners of his lips.

Kaworu stood leaning against the wall of a bakery, humming the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth.  A green apple rested in his palm, and he seemed to be inspecting it curiously.  His thumb traced along the curves of the fruit as he rotated it in his palm.  He suddenly began to laugh, tossing the orb lightly into the air several times before taking a bite.

"Good morning, Kaworu," Shinji greeted glibly, obviously happy to see his friend.

"Ah, Shinji!  Good morning to yourself!" the man replied.  "This is a fine start of a day, is it not?"  Noticing the tall, western-looking woman had stopped in front of him and seemed to be confused at his interaction with the Third Child, he bowed deeply.  "Good morning to you as well.  I had no idea the sun rose twice in one day!  I am Kaworu Nagisa, at your service, Miss…?"

Obviously taken by surprise, Asuka made no objection as the exotically colored and smooth-faced young man took her hand and kissed her knuckles gently.  A faint blush crept to her cheeks, and it was several seconds before she realized she had been asked a question.  "Soryu," she said airily, withdrawing her hand and bringing it back to her side.

Undeterred, the man offered his most charming smile, standing erect.  "Ah, the illustrious Second Child of NERV, famed original combat pilot of Unit-Two.  The tales surrounding your name hardly do you justice.  It is an honor."  He bowed deeply to emphasize his point.

"Hmph.  Is this guy for real?" the German asked her roommate, who could only smile and roll his eyes at his friend's display.  The typical venom was absent from her voice, however, indicating she would at least play the game a little longer.

"You may pinch me, if you'd like," the crimson-eyed male said with a roguish grin, standing yet again and offering his forearm.

"…Hmm…" Asuka tapped her chin with an index finger, making a show of eyeing the male in a uniform identical to the one her housemate was wearing.  "Impossible.  Shinji couldn't make friends that are intelligent _or_ cute.  Is he paying you, by any chance?"

A rich laughter erupted from the male's throat.  "You are mistaken!  Shinji and I are the best of friends.  We have been for quite some time now."

Shinji simply shook his head, walking slowly past the pair to catch up with Rei, who hadn't even bothered to stop and make an exchange with the outgoing youth.  His hands slid into his pockets, and he carried off the tune his friend had initially been humming, a broad smile adorning his face.

"If you've been friends _that_ long then he should have picked up some manners by now.  And he certainly doesn't appreciate me accepting him in my presence like I do.  _You_, on the other hand, seem to be a bit better off in both of those departments," the teenage girl remarked, completely amused at the entire exchange.  "Come on, walk with us for awhile.  Some _intelligent_ conversation might do me a bit of good."

"It would be my pleasure to oblige m'lady, but sadly I have already partaken of this fine specimen for my breakfast," he sighed dramatically as he held up the apple he had bitten into.  "I fear it is difficult to talk and eat at the same time without appearing rude."

One of the Second Child's thin eyebrows arched upward.  "I suppose I can find it within me to forgive you."

He grinned, revealing a set of perfectly straight, spotlessly clean teeth.  "I promise not to disappoint you.  But if you do not mind, tell me a bit about yourself as we walk.  I fear my mind may not be as quick as you'd like, so I shall formulate my thoughts as I eat and you talk, then deliver you with a witty conversation.  Deal?"

"Hmm," the girl made a show of considering it, taking her chin between her index finger and thumb.  "Fine.  What do you want to know?"

He considered it for several moments walking after Shinji and Rei, chewing on a piece of the fruit.  By the time he had swallowed, he had decided on the subject.  "You could start with where you've been since your departure from Japan.  I must admit that I am a little curious as to what the illustrious Asuka Langley Soryu has been up to over the last two years," he stated, gesturing grandiosely for the woman to lead the way.

The redhead fell in step next to the exotically colored youth, walking on his left.  "Tch.  No go.  We've only just met, and I'm not about to make you privy to my personal life.  Wouldn't you rather hear about my amazing triumphs with my Unit-Two when I defeated the Angels?"  Her eyes were suspicious as she spoke, and she moved to follow after her two fellow pilots.  

"Oh, everyone knows about all that," the grey-haired boy shrugged, disinterested.  "What I want to know about is the person that is Asuka Langley Soryu—not the pilot.  I can hear all I want to about the pilot from her friends and former classmates.  I can only hear about the person from her own mouth."

The Second Child frowned.  "What's your point?  Look, you're not some kind of sick stalker, are you?"

By that time, Shinji had managed to fall back and position himself next to the conversing pair and had been listening to them from the beginning.  He found himself interested in what had been happening over the duration of the fiery-tempered girl's absence.  "Umm, where _did_ you go, exactly?"

Her eyes shifted to the dark-eyed male that had interrupted, though her demeanor wasn't as offended as he might have expected.  She fell silent for several meters, as if pondering whether or not she should grace the boy with a reply.  Finally she made an exaggerated gesture with her hand.  "Fine.  I went to America—the First Branch in Chicago, you know?  Anyway, my grandmother lives near there, so I stayed with her when I wasn't taking tests at the training facility.  Other than that, there's not a whole lot to tell."

"Surely there is more than all that," Kaworu accused lightly after finishing off another bite of his apple.  "Much can happen over the course of two years."

Asuka's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.  It was quite apparent she did not approve of the newcomer's second-guessing her.  "Yeah, maybe so, but that doesn't mean you have to be privy to it, now do you?"

"My apologies," the smooth-faced young man quickly remitted.  "I meant no offense—I was merely trying to spur the conversation a little further."

Realizing his former and temporary housemate was not willing to share her experience overseas, Shinji decided to let the subject matter drop, thinking he might be able to coax a tale or two out of the girl at a later time—if he didn't agitate her mood further.  He was relieved, however, that her previous anger at him had subsided.  He would simply approach her at a later time; when they were in a more private setting where she would be more likely to open up as she had in the past.

They walked for several blocks in silence, Asuka refusing to speak any further with Kaworu present, due to her current frame of mind.  She obviously had no idea what to make of the strange man, with his soft complexion and ruby eyes, the pelt of wild, light colored hair.  The only thing that prevented her from jumping to the conclusion that he was nothing more than a male version of Rei Ayanami was his mannerism and not only willingness, but eagerness to make conversation.

Nagisa, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content to eat on his apple, occasionally smiling and waving at people that he passed.  Likely sensing the redhead's mixed—and thus slightly hostile—feelings, he made no further attempts at engaging in direct conversation with her.

"Isn't that the way to the school?" the German girl finally asked, gesturing nonchalantly down one of the streets the group had to cross. 

The grey-haired boy blinked, then smiled, bemused.  "So it is."

Shinji immediately noticed the warning flags go off as the young woman's bright blue eyes began to smolder in irritation.  He took a cautious step away, though trying to be inconspicuous in so doing.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" she snapped, her dainty amount of patience having worn itself through.  "You go to the school, right?  Why the hell are you following us?"

At this, Kaworu laughed, an opulent and jovial sound.  "My apologies for assuming you knew who I am.  I am the Fifth Child of NERV and pilot of Evangelion Unit-02.  I had merely assumed you would have been briefed on the subject prior to our meeting."

Emotion and color drained from Asuka's countenance as she stared at the boy, aghast at his revelation.  With an ashen face she eyed him first with a blank expression, which quickly gave way to rage and an angry flush washed through her cheeks.  She spun on her heel to face her other housemate, her eyes filled with the fury for which she was renowned.  "You!"

Reflexively, the dark-haired and dark blue-eyed young man flinched, taking another step away from the violent tempest the redhead had abruptly become.  

The stinging bite of her open palm against his cheek took several seconds to register, as he hadn't even seen her hand come up to strike him.  A flood of heat and pain engulfed the side of his face.  Quickly, his own hand came to the wounded cheek, as if to shield it from a second assault.

"You thought that was funny, didn't you?!  Well, I'm here to tell you right now, Third Child, that _no one_ is going to make a fool out of me!  If you think for an instant I'm going to subject myself to be the butt of your childish pranks you've got another thing coming!"  The words had been growled menacingly, each syllable promising unprecedented pain.

"But…"

Before he could protest she had stormed off, cursing in her native tongue loud enough for anyone within ten meters to hear her clearly.

"Such violence…  I hadn't expected such a reaction so soon.  And over such a trivial matter, no less…" Kaworu remarked, stunned.  "How badly are you hurt?"

(-----)****

Shinji fell silent, zoning out as he looked across the thousands of lights shining in the city below.  For several long moments the only sounds were those of the droning buzz of the cicadas in the night air and the dulled echoes of the more nocturnal inhabitants of Tokyo-3 as they went about their business.

Lying on the ground as he had been for three and a half hours, Kaworu had since stopped his star searching, instead focusing on his dejected-looking friend.  "Is something the matter?" he inquired in an effort to push his companion to continue.

The voice startled the young man, who had been watching the tiny dots he knew to be people milling about slowly in the visible streets.  He jerked slightly at the sound of the voice, his body going tense on some unknown instinct.  Realizing the situation, he visibly relaxed, slumping back forward and sighing heavily before speaking.  "Sorry… I was just thinking about the test results…"

"Ah.  She did seem a trifle upset after she came out of the entry plug.  Was there a reason for that?" the light-haired boy questioned.

"I…yeah.  She was really upset about the scores…" the boy explained almost apologetically.

Nagisa seemed perplexed by this.  "Do they mean that much to her?  With her past experiences involving Eva it would seem more likely she'd desire to be away from the…things."

At this the younger Ikari shifted, almost uncomfortably—as if the topic was one he was not at ease with discussing.  Several times he opened his mouth, as if to speak, only to close it again and reconsider his words.  Finally his shoulders slumped, as he could find no viable defense for his roommate, as well as a lack of good reasons as to why he should attempt to stand up for her in the first place.  "She's…weird like that, I guess.  She's unlike anyone else I've ever met…or ever will meet, I think."

The Fifth Child smiled.  "A quality you find amiable, obviously.  I will not push the subject…for now, though you wear your feelings on the outside of even the sleeve of your shirt.  Did the two of you walk home together?"

"No," Shinji replied, shaking his head as he spoke.  "She left headquarters in a hurry, and Misato had asked me to wait for her so we could ride home together…and I didn't see Asuka until we got back to the apartment."

"Oh?  And what happened?"

(-----)

"We're home!" Misato chimed, trying to sound enthusiastic.  She slipped off her shoes at the doorway; frowning with the effort of maintaining her balance with the bag of things she had picked up on the way home in hand.

Shinji stepped in behind his guardian, slipping his own shoes off dexterously before padding softly down the atrium to the kitchen and dining area, his own two bags of groceries in tow.  He had insisted they go to the store and purchase more food to supplement for the extra member of the household on their way home and had picked up a few extra things he liked to keep around the house that Misato tended to forget about—soap, detergent, and other cleaning agents that the Major never touched or counted in her inventory.  Silently he began putting up the items in the bag, wondering what he would be fixing for supper.

The dark-haired woman set down the bag she had been carrying, heading to her own bedroom to change out of her uniform and into more casual clothing.  Several silent, but uneasy moments passed by before the sound of a door sliding open and closed came from down the hall, and within seconds the one person in the household Shinji had been hoping to avoid for the evening made her presence known to anyone within earshot.  It was quite obvious she was in a foul mood, and he could almost visualize any plant within three meters of her instantly wilting from the heat of her anger that seemed to almost emanate from her like a wave of searing steam.  

Asuka strode into the kitchen, telltale signs of frustration and anger permeating from her every step.  Her hair was still wet from the shower and looked moderately disheveled, as if it had sparsely been brushed, and her skin was flushed with the lingering heat of the water.  Wearing a simple and haphazardly thrown-on white tank top that clung to the still damp portions of her skin and a pair of light grey sweat pants, she flopped unceremoniously into her customary seat at the kitchen table.  "Well, if it isn't Shinji-the-goddamned-ace.  Oh, wait…excuse me! You're only second best now, aren't you?"  She continued in a low growl, "After all, that little faggot friend of yours is at a whopping ninety-nine percent—three points higher than you!  Tell me, when you two have sex, is he the one that sticks you?  You always seemed like the kind of guy that would take one."

A chill ran up the young man's spine, despite his having expected such a confrontation.  She had obviously come out to pick a fight with him—a game he wasn't in the mood to play.  Rather than giving a reply and opening himself up to even more insults, the young man kept his mouth shut, hoping to halt the confrontation with his silence.

Scowling, the redhead placed an arm on the table and the other on the back of the chair as she shifted in it to sit sideways, and thus facing the dark-eyed young man.  "What, am I not good enough for the Invincible Shinji to talk to now?  Not willing to get off your high horse and speak with me just because my sync rate's a little low?  Am I _worthless_ in the eyes of a top-notch pilot like you?  Because I'm below even Wondergirl I'm just not worth the time of day to a hero like you?  Am I so fucking useless in your eyes you won't even fucking look at me?"  She had maneuvered out of the chair and was standing next to the table, her piercing blue eyes narrowed into dangerous slits and her mouth drawn into a slim line, her face muscles strained as if to say '_I dare you to open your mouth'_.

Each syllable had practically seethed from the younger girl, and the boy imagined he could feel the heat of her anger radiating across the room.  A nervous pit began to well up in his stomach, and in an effort to disprove the young woman's accusations he turned to face her, though he couldn't bring himself to meet her intense glare. 

"Oh, of course not," she remarked snidely, her confidence in the fact that she was in control of the situation evident.  By now she was standing less than two meters from the boy.  "A _normal **human **_like me," her arm jerked out and her hand slapped fiercely against her chest to emphasize her point, "couldn't even come close to the expectations of the mighty Third Child.  Why, I could probably even strip off my clothes right now and throw myself at you, but I just wouldn't be as good as your little blue-headed blow up _doll_."  She began to gesticulate wildly, as if to vent some of her anger lest she explode from the pressure.  "Or maybe my ass isn't as cute as your little baby-faced boyfriend's?  Or maybe I'm just not a big enough _freak of nature_ for your taste?"  Both of her hands dropped angrily to her sides and she took a menacing step forward, her eyes ablaze.  "Do I have to have a fucked up hair color, red eyes, and a lame-assed personality to earn _anyone's_ respect around here?"

"It's not like that!" he shot back reflexively, his hand clenching as he put forth an effort to hold his ground.  "  I…" his words began to fail him, and he found his protests dying before they even escaped his lips and his hand relaxing its white-knuckle grip upon itself.  

"You really make me sick, you know that?" the German spat, turning slightly and taking a step away.  "You're so much better than the rest of us, but you're just a sad little coward of a boy that can't do anything more than _react_.  Why the hell people look up to you like they do I'll never understand," she scorned, her voice dropping several notches from a savage tone to a more deprecating one.

"That's enough, Asuka," Misato said coolly, brushing past the girl who had managed to block the only entrance to the kitchen area.  "Let's just sit down and have something to eat, then we can all go to bed and it'll be better in the morning once we've all cooled down, okay?"

"And you!  Why the fuck are you always taking _his_ side?!" the Second Child demanded, her voice jumping back up to the vicious snap for which she was known.  "Just because you think he's so much better than me!  You've always been that way!"  Her hands came to her cheeks in a mockingly dramatic display, her tone disdainful as she continued.  "'Oh, poor little Shinji needs someone to hold his hand.  He can't stand up for himself, so we have to do it for him!'"  The act was dropped, instantaneously being replaced with pure malice as she reasserted herself into her vindictive tirade,  "I'm so goddamned sick of it!  It's always about Shinji!  And now…now we have that other little…little _queer_!  That bastard that thinks he can replace me!  Are you going to stand up for that little fruit cake, too?  Is _everyone_ here working against me?"

"Asuka, you don't even _know_ Kaworu," Misato pointed out, keeping levelheaded despite the girl's impending wrath.  As she continued her voice was gentle, but firm "And no one's trying to persecute you."

"Shut up!  You're the worst of them, next to that bastard father of _his_," she snarled, stabbing a finger at the dark-haired young man who flinched visibly at the indication of his relation to the Commander.  "All of you just want to hold me back!  I _am_ the best, goddammit!"

"Asuka…" Shinji began softly, his empathy for the girl suddenly overwhelming his fear and replacing it with the desire to help.

"Get the fuck away from me!  I don't need your fucking pity!  Go to hell, Shinji Ikari!  I fucking hate you!"

He froze as her harsh words rung in his ears and echoed continuously through his mind.  Her words spurred painful memories from the past—just before she left Japan two years before.  Anger, anguish, and ultimately abandonment—feelings with which the boy was all too familiar—resurfaced, despite his best efforts to suppress them.

"Stop it right now, Asuka!" the head of the household snapped, her years of military exposure causing her voice to snap like a whip.  "Who are you to-"

"Who am I to…?" the redhead asked herself rhetorically, letting the question trail off.  "Back off!  This is none of your business!  This is between me and the Third!"

"I'm _making_ it my business," the dark-haired woman asserted, crossing her arms and wearing the dark scowl that had developed with the weight of her occupation.  "Just back off.  That's an order."

Shinji had since slumped against the nearby counter top, his expression both shocked and thoughtful, as if something enlightening had just occurred to him, though the revelation had obviously been a painful one.  His brow was knit together as he consciously began to sift through his thoughts and the corners of his mouth tugged down into the faintest of frowns.  With a heavy sigh his shoulders began to sag as he decided on whatever it had been he was struggling within himself over.

"You've only proven my point," the Second Child stated snidely, her voice carrying the weight of her pride in that she had again managed to confirm her case and "win" the argument.  "Even now your precious little Eva pilot won't stand up for himself, and it's up to his comely little mother-figure to stand in and provide him with a shield.  How the hell you people find it in your selves to depend on this helpless little brat to save your lives is beyond my level of comprehension."  She finished her proclamation by turning, and giving an indifferent shrug and heading to her room.

Misato simply glared at the girl and gave no reply, likely not trusting herself to not say anything that would damage the former Eva pilot's fragile ego.  Once the door audibly slid shut down the hall, the brown-eyed female officer turned her attention back to her long-time housemate and personal charge.  "Don't listen to that little…_girl_," she practically growled, her eyes darting to the side and her head giving a little toss to help emphasize the last word.  "She's-"

"She's right," the young man admitted, his voice even and calm despite being low in volume.  "About a lot of things," he continued in response to his guardian's dubious expression.  "I…I think I need to go…for a walk… Is that okay?"

Unable to make an intelligible response, the woman simply nodded, surprise written across her face in bold characters.  She watched as he quietly slipped from the house, and didn't even realize she had been holding her breath until the door slid shut, the air in her lungs exploding outwards so she could take in another.

(-----)

"…and then I came here," Shinji concluded.  "And I hadn't been here long when you happened to show up."

"Hmm.  It would be a lie to say our encounter is mere coincidence, though perhaps much more idealistic if it had been.  To be perfectly honest I had been out with three of my female acquaintances on a dinner date when I happened to see you pass by with that pensive expression on your face," Kaworu admitted with a faint frown marring his features.  It quickly brightened into a smile as he remembered something.  "One of them indicated she found the expression to be quite attractive on your face.  That paired with the rugged look you're beginning to acquire has made you quite an object of the attention of more than a few of the ladies in our school."

"I…" he started with a blush creeping on his face and a hand rubbing the back of his head nervously, "…um…don't know…really…what to say…to that…"

The light-haired young man gave a rich and melodic laugh at his friend's nervousness.  "There is nothing to be said!  I just thought that perhaps such a statement might help bring you forth from this dour mood.  While the ladies might find your posture and facial expressions favorable, I much prefer the one that has far less turmoil behind its mask.  A smile looks good on even the most unsavory of characters, so long as it is one of true joy." 

Nagisa's voice dropped from its light-hearted tone into a more serious and deeper one as he continued, "But to the matter of your problem.  Did running away solve anything?  Certainly you've given both yourself and the Second Child time to cool down, but in that same instant you have let specific ideals settle within each of your minds—namely her conclusion that she has won and yours that you have lost.  Both of these assumptions are incorrect as such a conflict cannot merely be resolved by one party completely folding their hand—there must be a compromise."  He rolled on to his side to look at Shinji.  "Do you not agree?"

"I don't…know," the other male said at length, wiping a hand wearily across his face.  "That sounds pretty nice…and maybe it would work with a normal girl…but Asuka…  I mean, she's different, you know?"

"I've noticed that trait in her, yes," Kaworu stated, nodding.  "Quite a striking quality, I might add."

"Yeah…  But things…they don't always apply to her like they might some other people.  I don't know how to deal with her, you know?" the Third Child remarked.

The red-eyed boy smiled.  "Perhaps that is why you remain so preoccupied with her?  It is quite obvious she has caught your fancy—perhaps not in a romantic way as most might assume, but that idea is not entirely false either, I feel.  Whichever the case may be, she has struck a chord in you, my friend, and I think that will either lead to your triumph or your demise, though which I'm not entirely sure of."

"Huh?" Shinji asked.  After a few moments of thought another blush came to his cheeks, though rather than the slow and bashful one, this one was more of sheer embarrassment.  "It-it's not like that!"

"Of course not," the boyish-faced young man agreed.  "Not definitely, anyway.  Only time shall tell."  He paused for a second before continuing.  "So what will you do now?  Time only flows in one direction, and thus you get no second chances.  No one will rush you into a decision, but time itself waits for no one."

Ikari ran his fingers through his hair, then let his hand slide around so that he was rubbing the back of his neck thoughtfully.  "I…I'm not really sure…exactly.  I don't know _what_ to do…  I don't know where to start."

"I would suggest standing up," Kaworu chuckled, his eyes closed in thought as he spoke.  "And from there…well, that is for you to decide.  You do not have to walk this path alone, however.  You have splendid friends that can help you along the way, should you choose to allow them."  He opened his crimson eyes and locked his sights on the boy who had become his friend.  "We stand ready to assist you—all of us.  All you have to do is ask."

The Third Child of NERV nodded as he considered his friend's words.  He hauled himself to his feet and stood on the hill overlooking the metropolis of Tokyo-3, feeling a renewed vitality flowing within him, giving him the strength he knew he would need to try again to set things straight.  "Thanks, Kaworu.  You're a real life-saver."

"Perhaps I wouldn't go that far," the young man stated solemnly, as if the compliment had somehow hurt him.  "I am not even a very good friend to you, but I will do my best while I can."

"You're a great friend," Shinji assured.  "You, Touji, Kensuke, Hikari, Rei...  You're all great friends.  The best, even."  He gave a quick stretch before taking the first step down the hill.  "I'll see you tomorrow at school, right?"

The Fifth Child smiled from where he lay.  "But of course.  I wouldn't miss seeing the new and improved Shinji Ikari after a good night's sleep for anything—not even Third Impact could prevent me from being there."  He rolled into a sitting position, then stood up himself, giving a grandiose stretch of his own once he was on his feet.  Almost habitually he hummed several bars of one of his favorite songs.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then," Shinji declared confidently.  A perplexed expression splayed across his features, as if something had occurred to him.  "Hey, isn't that…that's one of Mozart's, isn't it?  Lockre…Lacra…"

"'Lacrimosa' from 'Requiem', yes," the fair-skinned boy confirmed. "Goodnight, Shinji Ikari."

"Good night!"  And with a wave the boy was gracefully making his way down the hillside, a vigorous bounce in his step.

Kaworu continued to smile after his friend, until he was sure the other young male was far out of sight.  He then turned his attention towards the north, continuing to hum the melancholy tune as he began to rock on his heels slightly.  With his eyes closed, he began to concentrate on a tugging sensation he had been feeling for the past several hours.  The melody faded from his mind as he finally managed to identify the source of the nagging sensation, and a frown creased his boyish features.  

"I see…" he said aloud to no one in particular as he took his chin between his forefinger and thumb.  Slowly, deliberately, he turned and made his way down the hillside.


	4. Chapter 2: Of Pride and Hope

_Disclaimer:_  Don't own it, don't want it.

Special thanks to Xanatose, who more or less is more or less my only prereader.  You guys should thank him by reading his stuff and giving him some thought-invoked reviews.  He's one fart-smeller…I mean, smart feller.

Thanks a lot.

**Chapter 2: **_ Of Pride and Hope_

For perhaps the four-hundredth time that evening, Asuka's sapphire blue eyes traced around the edges of the rectangle-shaped light fixture in the center of the ceiling of her room.  In the middle of the thin, yet large, box-like object was a simple copper ring, with a thin chain of metal beads for turning the fluorescent light on and off.  She attempted again to count the number of tiny metallic ball-shaped links, though the task was proving to be more difficult than she had originally anticipated.  Over and over again she tried to come up with the exact number on the string, only to repeatedly lose count. Irritated to the point of frustration, she decided to shift her focus elsewhere in the room.

The ugly color of the interior of the household became her next subject for scrutiny. It had been shaded to a color her eyes couldn't quite discern in the dark room, and at the moment she was rather grateful for that fact.  The disgusting hue would have done little to lessen her anger, and likely even serve to worsen matters to a heightened degree.

She shifted restlessly on the small bed—one that seemed much smaller than she remembered—reviewing the last moments of her earlier verbal assault against the young man.  The verbal lashing she had dealt him could be considered "harsh" at best, though "cruel" was likely closer to the mark.  When she had attacked him, she didn't withhold even a single punch, lashing out with everything she possibly could.

Strangely enough, though, she hardly felt satisfied with him simply tucking tail and running away.  Rather than the sweet, savory taste of victory, she had been left with the bitter flavor of disappointment.  At the moment, she needed a vent for her anger.  Shinji had served well enough as a punching bag, but what she really wanted was for someone to fight back; someone to provide her with a bit of a challenge.  She had hoped the Third Child might have grown up enough to provide her with as much, but undoubtedly there were just some things that would never change.

_Was I wrong to say those things? _she questioned herself, again recalling her heated barrage.  _Do I really feel that way, or was I just…?_

A scowl came to her features, and she shook her head once to clear her mind of any doubt.  If there was one thing she, the infamous Second Child of NERV, shouldn't be doing, it was second-guessing herself.  If she even hinted at indecisiveness, there would be absolutely no chance for her regaining her former position, or even being a part of the organization that had consumed her entire life.  She knew, better than anyone else, that if she was removed from the NERV roster she would have nothing; be nothing.

That was something she wasn't willing to accept.

Her thoughts became muddled, causing the short fuse that was her temper to quickly burn itself to the end of its wick, and with a feral growl she kicked the lump of covers bundled about her feet across the room.  Again she realized how tiny and uncomfortable the bed was, further frustrating her.  The sudden urge to scream out her defiant anger became overwhelming, though somehow she held herself in check. Instead she settled for rolling out of bed with her teeth painfully gnashed together as she began pacing back and forth within the small confines of the room that, for some reason, suddenly seemed more a prison than living quarters.  When the covers again got in her way, she fiercely flung them on the bed, feeling slightly satisfied with the loud—at least for the sound of a blanket slapping against sheets—and dead-weight "thud", which helped to assuage her rage, if only slightly.

While the room was dark, Asuka's eyes had long-since adjusted to the lack of light, and the floor of her room was uncharacteristically clean.  She noticed this with a detached amusement, until the implications of that fact occurred to her.  With an unlady-like snort she began critically examining her "cell", scowling disapprovingly.  

_Misato's precious little stooge probably came in here to dig through my things the moment he heard I left.  No doubt the pervert invited his gay little friends in here to steal my underwear._  As if to test her hypothesis, she jerked open the old dresser drawer where she had once kept her undergarments.

It was with more than a little surprise that she found the drawer in neat order, though it also looked that the items within the cubby hadn't been touched in quite awhile.  Asuka's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she tried to think of something wrong with the scene before her, but she eventually settled for a growl, slamming the drawer full of now-useless clothes.  Successively, she inspected each and every drawer in the room, finding each one in more or less the same condition—as if the room had been straightened up one time thoroughly, then left alone, save for the occasional cleaning of the furniture and floor.

_Tch__.__  That jerk probably had his fun one good time with his buddies then went to chase after some other skirt.  Jerks.  She nodded, as if to convince herself that she should be satisfied with that simple, logical explanation.  _After all,_ she continued, _men are nothing but dogs.  They're only interested in getting one good hump before moving on to the next female in line.__

 The idea of Shinji taking the time to clean her room, however, did not sit as well with the girl as her reasonable deduction.  She looked around the room, imagining the male youth diligently wiping every flat surface with a rag, running the vacuum cleaner, and changing the unused bedspread.  Another snarl rolled up from the pit of her throat, hands balling into tight fists, while her nails dug painfully into her palms as she moved to one of the dresser drawers and forcefully flung several of her old blouses and other random articles of clothing about the floor.  She turned and smiled at her handiwork, enjoying the bit of chaos she knew the coward would find distasteful.  _That'll show him who's in charge here, she thought smugly._

The redhead's actions abruptly ceased as realization struck her, her back stiffening and her eyes widening.  _The little prick would probably revel in the opportunity to come in here and touch my stuff,_ she thought, and immediately began to pick up the clothes and stuff them back in her drawer.  _I'm not about to give a pervert like that an excuse to come in _my_ room and do any gross stuff in here_.  It was then she remembered that such a thing had likely already happened, and not only from the coward, but also all of his friends.  A chill ran down her spine as she clutched the last shirt tightly in her hand before tossing it to the ground, recoiling from it as if it were a snake.

She fell on the bed, suddenly feeling very tired, when she heard the front door slide open and a bit light from the front foyer began to spill in against the paper-thin door that served as the entrance to her "cell".  There was no doubt in her mind of who had just entered the apartment, as his gait was fairly distinctive. She shot back to her feet, determined to give Shinji Ikari the beating of his life for causing her more anguish in the last several hours than any other person she had ever known at any given time.

 "I'm home," he said, softly enough not to disturb anyone, but loudly enough that anyone that might have been awake would hear him.  Had it not been for the gentle padding of his sock-clad feet down the hallway, his mild calling from the front door would have been the only signal to the household inhabitants of his entry.

Asuka's hand balled tightly into a fist and her face flushed with the heat of her wrath.  She stalked to the door, preparing to jerk it open and pounce on the Third Child. Then she _felt him move past her door, his foot falls as silent as the shadow of his outline against the thin door.  This struck a nerve, as the Shinji Ikari she recalled hadn't possessed a graceful bone in his body._

Feeling exhausted yet again, the girl quietly trudged back to her bed, where she sat on the yielding mattress and placed her back against the wall, drawing her legs close to her resting her chin on her slender knees, her arms hugging her lower appendages closer to her body.  She quickly found herself growing frustrated with her inability to remain angry with the dark-haired male, her anger swelling forth again, only to pete-out momentarily, causing her mind to surge back and forth much like a shoreline licked continuously by waves.

The weight of defeat seemed to hover above her head—a burden she would not accept, but was too weary to shrug off.  An icy chill lanced its way down her spine as an unplaced feeling of nostalgia crept at the edges of her awareness, and before she realized it she found herself groping for the blanket she had flung from the bed only moments before.  With sluggish movements, she adjusted herself into a laying position pulling the covers across her as she did so.

Finally finding herself curled between the shielding ward of the thick comforter the soft embrace of the mattress about her slender frame, the German allowed her consciousness to drift. Hoping that slumber would alleviate the misplaced feeling of impending hopelessness that had accumulated on her shoulders, she drew her body in upon itself until she had curled into a defensive ball, her hands clutching both angrily and fearfully at the covers.

_Stupid, perverted Shinji,_ she mentally grunted, pulling the fabric of the blanket tightly against her skin. Yet she still felt naked and vulnerable—as if unseen eyes were laying her bare and inspecting her like she was some sort of animal.  A desperate scream began to distend in the back of her throat—a shriek of anger, hatred, denial, and fear.  She thought it might escape before she could subdue it, when the gentle scent of cooked food somehow managed to grasp her attention.  

All at once, as if the smell were some sort of powerful sedative, the knotting tension in the girl released itself.  The aroma led her to hear the sounds of someone quietly working in the kitchen, being careful as not to wake anyone else in the household.

_Kitchen…_ her mind seemed to hum the word, her body and mind quickly submitting to the realm of dreams.  Of its own accord her body shifted into a more comfortable position, then shut itself down, starting with her feet and slowly making its way upward until only her senses of hearing and smell were working.  She imagined the comfortable warmth of the kitchen bathing her skin, mercifully washing away the clammy chill she hadn't even realized was there.  The smell continued to swirl within her nostrils, carrying with it the unspoken promises of security and perhaps even contentment.

It wasn't long before both her mind and body completely relaxed, providing Asuka with the best night's sleep she had had in quite some time…

**(-----)**

Shinji's eyes were heavily lidded as he lay in the grass, half-staring at the clear blue sky and half sleeping.  He had hardly been asleep that morning when Misato had cheerfully burst in his room, informing him if he didn't wake up, he'd be late for school.  Everything after that point was little more than a glazed rush of incomprehensible memories.

Nearby he was very aware of his friends and almost constant companions, who were talking idly between themselves not a meter away.  Their conversation was far from private, but the dark-haired boy barely had the energy to keep his eyes open, let alone try and keep up with what Kensuke was talking about.

"Are you unwell, Pilot Ikari?" came the soft monotone of the First Child, who was sitting to his left with a book in hand.

He turned his attention to the young woman, noting absently how closely her hair-color resembled the cloudless sky.  His mind working slower than usual, he smiled reassuringly before his mouth managed to form a proper response.  "I-I'm fine, Ayanami.  I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night.  That's all."

Her face remained as devoid of any real expression as ever, but her deep, crimson eyes voiced all of her masked concern, despite the fact that they still managed to pierce right into the boy's soul, judging him as they seemed to do with everyone they fell upon.  With a small, accepting nod, the girl then turned her attention back to the book in her hand, occasionally pulling a carrot or piece of celery from her bento.

"Yo, Shin-man.  You're going with us tonight, right?" Touji suddenly broke in, shattering what was left of the young pilot's reverie.  

"Huh?" was the only response he could muster, reaching up to rub his burning eyes.

Kensuke looked utterly shocked at the reply, as if somehow Shinji's absent-mindedness had physically struck the curly-haired youth.  "You mean you _forgot?  Aw, man!  You've _gotta_ come!  I've got money rid-…" He trailed off, looking slightly embarrassed at his slip-up._

Then it was Touji who seemed surprised.  "You've got money _what?  Dude, that's not cool.  Now he's gonna hafta play for the wrong reason.  It's supposed to be __fun, not some sporting event.  What kind of friend are you, trying to make a buck off your buddy?"_

The spectacled youth pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, a smirk on his face.  "Why, the best kind, of course!  I mean, what better way to show my absolute faith in Shinji's piloting abilities than to actually put my hard-earned _money on him?  Of course, if he wins, I'll split the pot with him, twenty-eighty.  Plus I'll be paying for everything, so all he'll have to do is win."_

"Would someone _please explain to me what's going on here?" the young Ikari asked, now confused on top of his utter exhaustion.  "What is it I've forgotten, and what is it I'm supposed to be doing tonight?"_

"The new Macross arcade comes out today, and there's going to be an unofficial tournament at the arcade tonight," Touji explained, frowning distastefully at the grinning Aida.  "We were supposed to go there at about eight tonight to check it out, and maybe get in on some of the action…for _fun_.  But now dingle-bat here," he punched his friend on the shoulder for emphasis, effectively wiping the smirk from his face, "has put money in that stupid pot that you'll win, so now you kinda hafta show up."

Shinji blinked slowly, digesting the information.  Finally he sat up and nodded.  "All right.  It sounds like fun, but I'm a little tired, so I might not be very good.  Not to mention it'll be my first time playing the new one, so I don't know…"

"Don't sweat it," Suzahara replied with a reassuring smile.  "No one else has played either.  You'll be fighting against other people, but that ought to be no sweat for someone with your skills."

"Yeah!  I knew you wouldn't let us-" Kensuke started, falling on his side from the sudden impact of an elbow against his ribs.  He glared angrily at Touji, rubbing the now-tender spot.  "_Me, down," he corrected himself._

The Third Child merely chuckled, and had nearly fallen back asleep when he noticed Rei staring intently at him.  Feeling more than seeing any indication of her disapproval, Shinji felt a slight chill go down the back of his spine.  "I-Is something wrong…Ayanami?"

She took—what for her might be considered—a deep breath that came out almost in what sounded like a sigh.  "Need I remind you, Pilot Ikari, that you are constantly on duty and must be alert in the event of an Angel attack.  It is quite apparent you are in need of sleep, and I strongly advise against any further activities that prevent you from gaining that rest."  As if to punctuate her statement the dark-haired boy attempted to stifle a yawn.

"I'll be fine," he said, smiling wearily.  "I'll just pick up a quick nap when school lets up before I go to the arcade."  A slight paused ensued, as if an idea had struck the boy.  "Hey, I know…why don't you come with us?  We could pick up something to eat at the mall, and you could even invite Hikari, Touji.  It could be pretty fun."

"Sure," Kensuke jumped in, more than a little excited at the prospect of doing two of his favorite things—winning money and playing video games—with female accompaniment.  "Heck, I'll even pay for dinner!" he boasted, turning a critical eye to the male Eva pilot.  "_If_ Shinji wins, that is."

"Hikari?" Touji asked incredulously, stealing a carrot from Rei's bento and chewing on it thoughtfully.  "I dunno…if she'd go for that sort…of thing." He swallowed before continuing.  "Maybe dinner, sure, but I doubt she'd be willing to stick around to watch Shinji play a video game."

At the mention of the perpetual Class Representative's name, Kensuke began looking around curiously.  "Say, where is Hikari today, anyway?  I haven't seen her stop by to make her daily offering to the Great Stomach of Tokyo-3…"

Suzahara blinked, scratching his chin thoughtfully.  "Hey, yeah, you're ri-… _Hey!_"

This time Aida had been ready for the blow, and managed to roll out of reach, laughing.

"Representative Horaki was speaking on her cellular phone after leaving the ladies' restroom," Rei spoke, having gone back to reading her book.

"Geez!" the largest of the three males griped, folding his arms behind his head and unceremoniously dropping from his sitting position into a laying one.  "Women and their phones.  Sometimes I wish those damned things had never been invented.  They're nothing but a distraction from the more important things in life."

"Yeah," the freckled and smallest of the young men chuckled, "Like feeding _you._"

"Shut up, nerd."

"Jock."

"Dork."

"Ass~hello, Hikari!" the spectacled youth tried to recover, only to receive a painful smack to the back of his head.  

"Kensuke Aida, how many times do I _have to tell you to watch that mouth of yours?" the tall and thin brunette scolded, her dark eyes flickering dangerously despite her mild words.  "One more time this week and I'll make sure you get garbage duty for a month."_

"Yes, ma'am!" he replied, saluting smartly.

"Hey there, Hikari," Shinji lifted a hand and tilted his head upwards to face the newest arrival.  He smiled as he looked her over from his slightly awkward position, still amazed at how she had grown—and filled out—since he had first met her over two years before.  She had given up the pigtails shortly after Asuka had left, instead favoring a simple, yet pleasing-to-the-eye haircut that hung just above her slender shoulders.

"Ikari," she said cordially, returning the smile before looking down at Touji, who was in the process of slinking closer to her feet from where he lay on the ground.  "…Suzahara…" the girl growled, kicking the young man in the head before sitting down.  

"Ow, hey!  What was that for?" he asked, sitting upright and rubbing the side of his head.

"For being a pervert and trying to look up my skirt!" she fumed indignantly, folding her hands primly over the large bento she had brought with her.  "When are you going to grow up?"

"Hey, it's not like I try and look up _any_ girl's skirt like Kens over there.  I only do it with you," the athletic male admitted, looking hopefully at the box.

In his defense, Kensuke merely snorted, pulling out a palm-pilot and flipping it on.

"Oh, and I'm supposed to take that as a compliment?" the short-haired, freckled girl inquired heatedly.  "You should act your age and not your I-Que."

"I thought they were about the same…" Aida sniggered, again rolling just out of swatting range.  When he noticed two pairs of angry eyes glaring his way, he retreated back to his hand-held, muttering something unintelligible. 

Hikari held her intense glower for several more seconds for good measure before turning a more cheerful face to the still tired, but slightly bemused Third Child.  "So what were you four discussing before I showed up?  I saw you talking, but couldn't hear."

"Huh?  Oh…well, maybe Touji better tell you," Shinji answered, tossing his younger, but more muscular friend a wink.

"Wha?  Me?" he stammered, rubbing the back of his head.  "Oh, yeah!  Hey, Hikari, wanna go out with me tonight?" Suzahara asked bluntly, jabbing a thumb at his chest for good measure and wearing his most "charming" grin.

"My God," Aida interrupted, laughing hysterically.  "That proves it.  Touji, you're a complete idiot.  I've never seen someone screw up something so simple in my life."

"Shut up, Kensuke!" came the simultaneous responses from Horaki and Suzahara.

"Anyway…" the former pilot began again, still scowling at the curly-haired youth's back menacingly, "whaddya say?"

The tall and lithe girl smiled shyly, dipping her head slightly to hide the slight blush in her cheeks.  "I'd love to, Touji…"

"Woohoo!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet and thrusting a fist triumphantly in the air.  "And here I thought you were gonna turn me down!  Oh, man, I love being wrong!"

"…but I just made other plans to meet with someone after school.  I'm sorry."

For several long seconds the large, jump-suit clad male continued to beam at the sky, until there was an almost audible "click" as the words sunk home.  He looked down, utterly shocked at the gentle rejection he had been given.  Crestfallen, he slumped back into a sitting position, wearing his disappointment on the sleeve of his jacket.  "Oh," was all he said in a neutral tone.  "That's cool."

"I'm sorry," she repeated.  "I really would like to go, you know."

"Nah, that's okay," he replied, his voice raising back to its more optimistic level and his face brightening.  "You got better things to do, and that's cool.  Some other time, maybe."

"Touji…" Hikari trailed off, apparently saddened.

Rei stood then, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles in her uniform.  "We should go back now.  The break will be over soon."

Rolling up into a sitting position, then lifting himself slowly to his feet, Shinji nodded, beginning to walk back to the school with the blue-haired enigma silently.  Kensuke followed suit, stuffing his hand-held back into his pocket.  

Touji lagged behind a few seconds, taking time to stretch his synthetic leg before bounding off after them.  "Hey, wait up, guys!"

With a heavy and resigned sigh of defeat, Hikari pulled herself upright.  She shook her head in a vain effort to clear it of regretful thoughts, but they were not to be shaken.  Quietly she made her way after the quickly departing group, carrying the unopened bento with her.

**(-----)**

_Damn these things for being so damned itchy_, Asuka mentally swore, resisting the urge to scratch at her legs, which were clad in the tan-colored pants of a NERV uniform.  She had chosen the male variation of the garb, disgusted by the ridiculously short skirt used in the female variation.  The idea of male pigs gawking at her legs—or any part of her, for that matter—didn't appeal to her in the slightest.

She sat rigidly at attention in the uncomfortable chair that was, in turn, in a small, boring waiting room.  It might have been possible to relax, but for several present factors; one: the uniforms wouldn't allow it, two the chairs wouldn't allow it, three she was waiting to speak with Commander Ikari, and four…well, she was Asuka, and Asuka simply didn't relax.

Waiting was another thing the redhead never did.  She refused to wait on _anyone_, simply because that would mean she was letting something hold her back.  If there was one thing in the world she hated, it was restrictions.  

_And then there's this goddamned itchy-assed uniform…_ she almost snarled aloud, again resisting the urge to rub the irritated parts of her skin raw.  _How the hell do those techies wear this crap all day?  No wonder Misato dresses like a slut when she's on the job._  She sighed angrily, shifting only a millimeter in her seat.  _Maybe Shinji can do something about this when we get back.  He's good with this sort of thing…_

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she realized it had come unbidden.  A fierce scowl marred her picture-perfect features, dismissing the notion entirely.  _That idiot can't even pull his own scrawny assed weight around.  It'll be a cold day in Hell before I consider him worthy of even shining my boots, let alone handle my clothes._  As if to physically affirm her resolve, she crossed her arms with an annoyed "Hmph."

Two hours came and left, and the woman had grown more agitated with each passing second.  Her resolve to not scratch had deteriorated nearly half an hour before, and her defiant response to having Shinji do something about the uniform had come back to the forefront of her mind for reconsideration, when she was nearly leapt from her skin at a very welcome intrusion.

"Asuka Langley Sohryu," a male voice came over an unseen speaker, "Commander Ikari will now see you.  This way, please."  Across the room, the thick metal door made a loud grinding noise, followed by a metal "thunk" before slowly opening on its own.

The Second Child stood, attempting to smooth out the creases she had managed to accumulate on the pants of her uniform during her long and restless wait.  Groaning in dismay at the unreceptive pants, she marched through the door, hoping no one would notice the slight imperfection.  On the other side of the door, two armed and highly intimidating guards waited for her, falling in step as she moved down the long, metal corridor.

_What the hell are these two goons for?_ she wondered, looking the relatively tall guards over, almost sizing them up.  Her attention quickly shifted to the walls as she noticed they were segmented precisely every four meters, and each segment almost seemed entirely independent from the next, though they were all identical.  Rather than a sort of seam between each segment—as she was used to seeing in the upper levels of NERV headquarters—here there was a perfectly flush surface, though at every interval it appeared as if there were doors that could seal perfectly air-tight at the push of a button.

_Geez__.__  Whoever designed this place must have been a paranoid schizo, Asuka mused mildly.  _I wonder how thick these damned walls are.  That'd definitely tell how much of a freak this architect was.__

It was the sound of heels of boots clicking loudly against the stainless steel floor that brought her out of her slight daze and snapped her backinto the present.  Her "escort" had positioned themselves to either side of the door with their arms drawn up in a salute—a gesture which she returned absently—when the door hissed open, revealing a room lit only by a wall of windows behind the desk.

Normally nothing would cause the fiery German to hesitate, but for some strange reason she did now, gaining a bit of insight where Shinji's preoccupation with his father was concerned.  Truly the polished black iron floor and ceiling were ominous at best, and the fact that there were only two pieces of furniture visible—the desk and the occupied chair—made the enormous room even more foreboding.  An optical illusion of sorts was created by the angle at which the lighting was coming from and where the desk set, making it seem as if the desk were miles away, when in reality it was only twenty or so meters.

_Still,_ the woman ruminated, _that's a long damned way._  With measured steps she moved forward, keeping her hands close to her sides, trying to walk as she had seen other officers in the complex do.  Once she was within four meters of the desk, she stopped, snapping her heels together and saluting.

Thus far the man behind the desk had said nothing, keeping his elbows propped on the table and his hands folded before his face.  By some freak coincidence, the light refracted through his classes in such a way that it made his eyes impossible to see through the lenses.  He made no move to return the gesture, and was completely silent for several moments, giving neither an "at-ease" nor any sort of greeting.  He merely sat and watched, his face seemingly etched in the cold iron that made up even the desk in the office.

Unwilling to be bested, even by the infamous Supreme Commander, the redhead kept her eyes perfectly level with her back perfectly straight and holding her salute.

"What do you want?" the man eventually asked, getting directly to the point.

Asuka dropped the salute, spreading her feet to shoulder's width and clasping her arms behind her back while keeping her line of sight directly ahead, as she had seen some of the lower-ranking men do when Misato was debriefing them.  "I've come to request to be reinstated to my position as primary pilot of Evangelion Unit-Two," she replied, hoping she wasn't over-acting her part.

"Denied," he stated without hesitation, not a millimeter of his person that was visible moving.

Her façade dropped like a stone.  "But, sir, I-"

Now his face did move, though only slightly enough to be perceptible, though it did dispel the illusion on his glasses.  "You're wasting my time, Pilot.  I have no patience for my first-rate pilots, let alone in an unnecessary and useless reserve such as yourself."

Ikari's words hit her like a boxing glove full of coal.  She might have fled from the room had it not been for her stubborn pride and sheer determination.  Rather than play the order-taking subordinate, the girl closed the distance between herself and the desk, smacking her open palm against the chilly metal surface.  "You listen here," she sneered, "_You'_ve _wasted two years of my life by shipping me to the U.S. of fucking A, keeping me away from _my_—__MY, not that pansy-assed queer's—Unit-Two.  I'm back now, and I want back what's rightfully mine, and I want it __now."_

Several long seconds passed, with two icy brown orbs gazing stonily up at her penetrating blue ones.  She held his even stare, though with each passing second she felt the intensity fade from her eyes, and a gnawing sensation developed in the back of her mind as the adrenaline rush from her apparently foolhardy bravado quickly began to subside.  Her firm placement of her hand on his desk began to let up, and she felt the fear-invoking scowl she was so infamous for start to waver.

"Denied," he reiterated coldly, evenly.

"I can prove I'm better than him!" she shot in, hoping to at least gain some footing on the matter.  "Just…I know, a duel!"

"You're wasting my time," the Commander stated pointedly.

Now she was growing desperate.  The purpose of the meeting had shifted from getting her Eva back to winning the fight and had dwindled down to the point where she only wanted to leave the room with even a semblance of her pride intact.  "Let me fight him!  I'll prove I'm better than him!  A simulated battle between two Evas!  If I beat him, it'll show who the better pilot is, synch ratios be damned!"

Yet another long interval of silence settled upon the room, and his emotionless eyes seemed to bore into her skin.  She only managed to hold his gaze through the medium of an emotion she was unfamiliar with: fear.  Fear of being denied what she wanted—no, needed.  Fear of being beaten by another Ikari…

_Another Ikari?__  Shinji's never bested me…_

"I see no reason to adjust the piloting roster," the dark-haired man declared, a hint of finality in his voice.  "The Fifth Child's synchronization ratio far surpasses yours, even during your peak.  He has shown no indications for acting in an insubordinate manner during a combat sortie."  He paused, his face remaining an impassive mask, though he almost seemed to be scowling at the young woman.  "Many times you disobeyed direct orders in combat, and in nearly every sortie you cost NERV incredible amounts of its funding in both repairs to the Unit and reparations for destruction of property—both public and private."

She wanted nothing more than to come across the desk and throttle the man, to bang his thick skull against the cold iron floor until it was nothing more than a bloody pulp.  Very quickly, she was coming to understand why Shinji Ikari bore his father such malice.  The pride-wounded pilot saw no outing for even a marginal victory from the encounter.  She couldn't deny the cold man's calculating logic, and she knew he would simply laugh internally at any argument based on her emotions.  The thought of any person laughing at her for whatever reason didn't set well with her at all.  Despite this knowledge, the words that had been echoing in her mind since the night before escaped her lips.  "Unit-Two is mine," she practically snarled.  "I'm the rightful pilot."

The silence that ensued was almost deafening.  For what seemed like eternity, the only thing Asuka could hear was the blood savagely pumping in her ears.  She managed to keep her eyes aligned with his, though only through considerable effort.  Finally understanding she would gain nothing from the encounter, the girl's face relaxed into an utterly neutral expression.  Defeated and now fully comprehending that there were no second-chances in her line of work, she turned to leave.

"You will report to headquarters tomorrow at seventeen-hundred hours," the Supreme Commander of the UN's most elite force stated bluntly, leaving no room for misinterpretation.  "At eighteen hundred hours promptly there will be a simulated sortie between yourself and the Fifth Child."  His face lifted back to its previous position, the light catching the lenses and again concealing his eyes from view.  "You are dismissed."

In a rare moment of utter surprise, Asuka Langley Sohryu was rendered utterly speechless.  She wasn't sure whether to be thankful or wary, though in another unique turn of events she chose to be the former.  Clicking her heels together and offering another salute, she spun on her heel and marched out of the office, feeling a surge of hope and determination in her heart.

**(-----)**

The control stick was slick and polished with the residue of previous users' hands, though this was only a passing thought of the young woman who was savagely jerking and thrusting the flight-handle, causing the jet-fighter to perform seemingly impossible maneuvers at intense speeds.  Several times warning messages along the bottom of the heads-up-display popped up, warning her that it was likely she was skiffing the edge of her own personal safety as a pilot, risking being crushed or whipped about to the point where she would no longer be able to perform.

This, however, mattered little to her, as she was less than worried about her "personal" safety.  After all, it was only a video game.

Asuka's scoreboard was sky-rocketing at a seemingly exponential rate.  Her wing-mates had been shot down early on, leaving her to fight the entirety of the Zentraedi forces on her own.  Thus far she had taken out over a hundred, though since she was the primary focus of all of the enemies it was taking a great amount of effort on her part to keep from being shot down.

She grinned ferally when an indicator popped up, telling her she was down to less than ten total enemies.  A beeping noise produced over the speakers notified her of a lock-on, prompting her to hit the throttle to escape damage.  Instead, however, she pulled the emergency-brake-like handle to her left back two notches, shifting her VF-19 from fighter mode to battroid, where she fired several bursts from her hand cannon at the missile clusters, effectively destroying them.

Knowing she would be little more than a target in her current form, she gripped the handle again, pressing the button and shoving it forward, reverting her veritech back into its jet-fighter mode, giving her a much-needed speed-boost.  Seeing a nearby mountain range on the terrain-scope, she altered her heading to the north, where she would be provided with enough cover to fight efficiently and not have to worry about watching her back.

A barrage of bullets fired from beneath her caught the redhead off guard, managing to clip her veritech's left wing and take out her sensor array on the ship's nose, effectively blinding her.  Forced to rely only on what she could see from the cockpit, Asuka jerked back on the shifting-handle, switching her from fighter to GUARDIAN mode, adjusting her speed enough to throw off the enemy's lead on her vector and giving her a chance for a counter attack.

She shifted the simulated machine back into fighter mode after dipping the ship's nose to where she would be shot at the ground at nearly a twenty-degree incline.  Another warning message popped into existence, signifying she would be crushed at her current rate of flight, but she chose not to heed it, instead setting the throttle to its maximum.

Suddenly the camera angle shifted to an external view, revealing a plume of smoke coming from the damaged wing.  In a stunning display of graphics, the wing ripped off, throwing the fighter into a tail-spin.  The pilot ejected from the cockpit just before the vehicle crashed into the enemy fighter, causing both to erupt in an extremely realistic explosion, going so far as to create a crater in the ground surrounding the area.

"Dammit!" the German swore, smacking the control stick.  "Stupid piece of crap!"  She grinned when a screen showed up for her to enter her initials, telling her she made the high-score.  _Not like I didn't do a damned good job.  Hell, I doubt anyone's done anywhere nearly as well as I just did._

When the scores began scrolling on the screen, her grin quickly gave way to an angry scowl.  "What the _hell_?" she exclaimed suddenly, grabbing the attention of several people at the surrounding games.  "Who the _fuck is S.I.?!"  In another show of anger, she kicked the base of the machine, pulling herself out of the cockpit-like stall and glaring menacingly at the onlookers.  "What the hell is your problem?" she asked heatedly, rolling up the sleeves of her shirt and taking a step forward.  "You want some?"_

Before a response could be made, the sound of a cheering crowd diverted the girl's attention, her anger quickly giving way to curiosity.  Turning back to the cowering youth, Asuka pointed back to the large gathering in the next room.  "What's going on over there?"

"I-I-I…" the ten-year-old stammered, wide-eyed and frightened.  "Please don't hurt me!"

A dubious expression painted itself on the girl's face.  "Wha?  What are you talking about?  Why would I beat up a little kid?  Just tell me…" she trailed off as she realized the boy's knees were practically knocking together.  Not wanting to be responsible for making the child wet himself, the German walked off, attracted to the sound of a crowd cheering.

"Look at that bastard go!"

"Oh, man!  He just took out another one!"

"Damn he's fast!  Did you just see that?"

More than a hundred people had massed around a group of stall-like arcades, similar to the one the young redhead had just emerged from.  Several external monitors were hanging from over the top of the twelve video-games, giving shifting displays of what the players were seeing on their monitors as well as external images, much like the one she had just seen after losing.

Grabbing the nearest person by the shoulder, Asuka spun the distracted young man—several years her senior—to face her.  "Hey, what's going on over here?"

The man looked perplexed.  "What do you mean?  This is the newest Macross Saga game!  Didn't you know about it!"

"Whoa!  That was awesome!  You should have seen that!" a second man shouted to the first, pointing at a smoking mecha full of holes and decapitated.  "That one guy just came out of no where!"

"Damn, I missed it!" the first male cursed, throwing an accusing glare at the interloping Second Child.  "Look, just let me watch, okay?"  With that he turned about, again completely consumed by the action footage on the screen.

Asuka glared hatefully at the back of the man's head.  _Should I just leave him alone, or beat the shit out of the little geek?  Her internal debate was short-lived, however, when she noticed someone crawling out of one of the machines, vacating it.  Making a mental note to remember the man's face and take care of his incompetence later, she made her way to the machine._

_Maybe it's not such a bad thing these idiots are so engrossed.  I'll just have to give them something to really "Wow" about now,_ she mused, inserting her card in the slot, paying for the game.  Black on the inside with only the light of the monitor and the faint glow of all the buttons, the stall-like booth was similar in design to the one she had just been playing in, offering only a few more levers and switches.  _Let's get this circus in gear._

It would be several minutes before the game was over and she could play, so she set about reading the specs on the available choice of mechas.  _Six to choose from, huh? _Let's see…_  _

The line up was fairly lopsided, giving the user a choice from the VF-Thunderbolt to the newest veritech fighters, including the new VF-Excalibur and the special-ops YF-21, which had never made it past the prototype stage.  The speculations of the newer ones far surpassed those of the older ones, making the girl wonder why anyone would even consider choosing anything older than the VF-16.

Shrugging, the girl selected her machine of choice; the VF-19 Excalibur.  She favored the canard wing style and the design, plus the balance of armor, speed, and firepower were just where she liked them.

Then there was the fact that it was the only one she could get in red…

---

"Shinji, you gotta do something, man!  Everyone's wanting to bet on you now that they've seen you in action!  This next pool isn't going to win us anything if everyone puts their money on you!" Kensuke pointed out, waving a hand to indicate the large crowd of people waving monetary notes in the air at Touji, who was attempting to hold the group at bay by himself.

The young Ikari, who had utterly dominated the opposition in the previous match, rubbed the back of his head, slightly confused.  "What could I do, though?  I mean, I'm just playing the game…"

Aida's boyish face took a thoughtful expression as he looked at his friend's monitor curiously.  He rubbed his chin as he considered the viable options.  "Well, if you took a major handicap of some sort, I'm sure they'd change their bets…  Wait!  I know!  Pick that one!"  

Shinji followed the extended finger to the monitor.  He blinked in surprise, his brow furrowing in confusion.  "The VF-Eleven D?  Why would I pick that?  It's not got half the power and capabilities of the VF-Nineteen, and just a little over two thirds of the VF-Sixteen."  When he looked back at his friend, however, the knowing grin more than answered his question.  "Oh.  Well, I guess, but I don't…"

"Great!  I knew you wouldn't let me down!" the curly haired boy exclaimed jubilantly, slapping his friend on the shoulder.  He pulled himself out of the stall, announcing the latest turn of events to the crowd.

The Third Child sighed heavily, though he bore a faint smile on his face.  He wouldn't mind the challenge, but the weight of the fact that if he lost, his friends would lose their money didn't sit well with him.  It wasn't that he minded his friends making small bets on his abilities so much as it was the fear of his losing causing them disappointment.

"Are you unwell, Ikari?" came Rei's soft voice from the side opposite of the stall, startling the boy, her face within less then a dozen centimeters from his.

"What?" he asked, nervous by the sudden close proximity of the young, red-eyed girl still dressed in her black and white school uniform.  "I-I'm fine…Ayanami…  Wh-why do you ask?"

Her jaw-length light-blue hair fell slightly to the side as she tipped her head in a curious gesture.  "I am merely thinking of your well-being.  You are physically exhausted and the burden your friends are placing on you seems to be quite taxing."

The feeling of her soft, warm breath tickling his face as she spoke was slightly distracting to the young male, and he found himself hoping the booth was dark enough to hide the rising blush in his cheeks.  "I-I…I'm just sort of nervous about them losing their money because of me…" he admitted, turning his eyes away towards the screen.

"This puzzles me," the young woman replied, drawing Shinji's attention back to her.  At his questioning glance, she elaborated.  "When you pilot Unit-One, their very lives—as well as the rest of the people in this room—are riding on your ability to pilot.  Is such a small amount of money more precious to you than the lives of everyone in this city?"

The answer, of course, was obvious.  "Of course not!" he snapped, his voice rising marginally.  "I mean…" His face flushed deeper, embarrassed at his own, slight outburst.  "Sorry…"

Ayanami nodded, accepting the apology.  "Your game will be starting soon."

Glancing toward the monitor, he realized the launch cinematic had initiated, giving him only a few seconds before he would be in virtual combat.  He shifted his focus entirely back on the monitor, gripping the control stick and the shifting lever.  "We…can talk about this later, if you'd like," he offered quietly, feeling bad for having to cut the girl short on their conversation.

"That would be…favorable," she replied with a subtle nod.  She withdrew from the curtain that separated the young man from the outside world, leaving only him, the dim-glowing controls, that the brilliant display monitor.

Shinji set the throttle to the max, knowing he would have to practically redline his thrusters the entire match just to keep alive.  The last match had been won by skill, but this time it appeared that he would be relying more on luck.  Gripping the control stick ever-tighter he forced his mind to focus.  _It's just a game,_ he told himself, as he had repeatedly during the previous bout.    

---

Asuka was less than surprised to see most of the combatants had chosen the YF-21, the fastest and most maneuverable of the line-up.  It was the practical choice, being the games artificial intelligence helped control the machine, giving it more than a little edge in the area of performance.  Lack of skill on the part of the pilot would be compensated by the computer, making evasive maneuvers easier and offering features like auto-lock and tracers.

_Who needs that crap?  That's precisely what separates the real pilots from the wannabes.  I'll show all these losers who the best is, and I'll prove I'm even better by doing it without some stupid computer's help._  She smiled archly, raising her altitude and throttling up, wanting to get a better view of the combat zone.

The random-level selection had chosen an abandoned city for the starting point of the fighting.  While all the levels were interconnected, giving the players the freedom to choose their own battling grounds, one specific area was selected for deployment.  The city, however, suited the redhead just fine, given her real-life combat experiences.

Her first target was another Excalibur, this one having a green indicator over it accompanied by the number eight.  Like a hunting cat that had just located its prey of choice, the German grinned, killing her engines and shifting to battroid mode.  Once engaged in free-fall, she centered her reticule on the unwary adversary, aiming for the exposed cockpit.

Five shots later, the girl had managed to get the first kill of the game.  She had nine and a half minutes to get as many more as she could.  Grinning, she switched back to fighter mode smoothly, throwing the throttle forward and accelerating towards the city.

---

It hadn't come as a surprise to Shinji that he found himself the center of most of the other players' attentions.  He knew of at least five other pilots in far superior veritechs that had his number, and there was no telling how many more he hadn't seen were waiting for him.  Fortunately, he knew that nearly all of the mechas were evenly matched in battroid mode, giving him a much more level playing field in one-on-one combat.

_Too bad it's five on one…_ he thought, sighing.  He was at a very unfair disadvantage, lacking both the integrated stealth and ECM modules the more recently dated mechas possessed and the advanced sensors necessary to detect the machines.  _Without line of sight, they're practically invisible.  Meanwhile, I'm sticking out like a sore thumb,_ he mentally groaned.  

Taking a deep breath, Shinji changed his mech into guardian mode, setting his throttle up to half way he exploded from the wide alley he had been hiding in.  He wasn't surprised in the least when several lines of projectiles slammed into the walls and asphalt around him, kicking up clouds of emulated smoke and debris.

He skiffed down the boulevard in an arc, then at an intersection he widened the curved vector, shifting back into battroid mode and tightening the turn into a one-hudred-eighty degree spin. In a quick, fluid succession he fired off several shots of his own, aiming where he had noticed gunfire coming from as he turned.  A pillar of fire and smoke, followed by a kill-indicator notified him of a successful hit.  He had little time to revel in the victory, however, as four more lines of bullets came from the same general vicinity.  It would only be a few seconds before the defeated foe would respawn, setting the odds back to five on one.

Shifting into fighter mode, Shinji launched himself at two targets he had seen closer together, firing from atop two of the shorter buildings to his left.  He hugged close to the walls of the buildings opposite of his chosen targets, making him a harder target for the two other, unseen foes hiding on the right.  

On an instinct, the boy jerked back on the emergency-brake-like handle, shifting him into the jet-battroid hybrid and reversing his momentum.  Only a split-second later, a burst of bullets chewed through the glass of the building he was banking in front of, showering his view with shards of broken window.  Locating his target, Shinji launched a volley of high-maneuver missiles while angling the humanoid-jet hybrid into a dive, throwing off the other would-be sniper's aim.  Another kill indicator popped up, telling the young pilot his attack had been successful as his mech's feet touched down.

No sooner had he hit the ground than did he change his mech into a fighter, throwing forward the throttle and turning the jet sideways.  Though this gave his opponents a broader target for a few split-seconds, it allowed him to blast through one of the narrower alley-ways, removing him from sight and forcing his enemies to give chase.

_Eight seconds…_ he counted down from his first kill.  If he could somehow stagger how he eliminated the group, there would be less of a chance of them ganging up on him again.  His odds of surviving would increase dramatically, though he wasn't sure on his chances of winning.  So far he had only seen five opponents, leaving the other six more.

_Five!_ he corrected himself as a white and grey VF-19 Excalibur cut off his escape, firing spray of uranium slugs his way.  In a desperate move, Shinji switched to battroid mode, throwing his shield forward to intercept the bullets.  The projectiles ricocheted off the dense defensive piece of equipment, ripping up cement and brick walls of the closely-cropped buildings.  With no room to retreat to either side and up being entirely out of the question, Shinji charged forward, engaging his mechas limited maneuvering thrusters and releasing the built-in bayonet in his rifle, keeping his shield held up to fend off any bullets that might hit the more sensitive sections of his robot.

The rushed tactic hadn't completely caught his opponent off guard, as the agile Excalibur launched itself straight upward, aiming the barrel of its cannon downward to catch the older VF-11 from above and behind the shield as it barreled clumsily out of the alley-way.  

Shinji emerged from the alleyway under a hail of bullets, surprising him entirely.  Without thinking, he shifted into fighter-mode and punched his throttle. The hasty maneuver slung him into the wall of a building across the street, causing the computer to automatically shift into battroid mode.  For a moment he was blinded by smoke and dust from the crumbled wall, but only suffering moderate damage to various appendages.  Knowing his opponent would deliver the fatal blow in the next second or two, Shinji altered to guardian mode, emerging from the dark cloud in a storm of bullets and missiles, shredding entirely the alleyway from where he had just dashed out.

Another kill indicator popped up, telling him his opponent hadn't been paying very close attention, or had simply gotten cocky.  Not wanting to press his luck any further, Shinji took to the building tops, wanting to intercept his three closing opponents before they could get the drop on him.

_Ten seconds to go…_ he continued to count.

---

"Tch, small fries, all of you!" Asuka cursed aloud at the two YF-21's she had just dispatched within seconds of one-another.  Already she was up to three kills without a single shot having been fired in her direction.  While she enjoyed the small victories, she craved a challenge.  Wanting more opponents, she glanced at her radar display in search of her next victims.

_He~llo__, she greeted a small cluster of blips.  Four opponents were in a concentrated area while a fifth was closing in quickly from the south.  Sensing several more quick and easy kills, the Second Child altered her headings toward the eastern section of the town._

The cross-fire was easily visible from her vantage as she dropped altitude.  Her indicators identified four YF-21's and a slower, less capable VF-11D Custom engaged in close-range combat.  Before she reached the scene, however, one of the YF's disappeared from her screen—markedly destroyed by the sudden explosion followed by the typical pillar of smoke and flame.

Wanting a piece of the action for herself, Asuka came in low and fast, maintaining her fighter-jet mode.  Locking on to all four of the remaining targets, she fired her heavy missiles, raining destruction on the entire, unwary group.  She frowned, however, when only two kill indicators came up. A yelp surprise escaped her lips when a line of bullets caught the underside of her ship, forcing her down and nearly destroying her.  She shifted to guardian mode, skimming the tops of one of the taller buildings before banking about to re-engage. 

_Well, well, well,_ she congratulated, a confident smirk on her face.  _One of you two bastards is going to pay for that.  You'll regret the day you dared to put this__ woman in your crosshairs._

---

The newest attacker came in hard and fast. firing off a volley of high-maneuver missiles in hybrid-mode before shifting into battroid, gun blazing.

Using the distraction to his advantage, Shinji pumped several shots into his side-tracked opponent, who had made the fatal mistake of leaving a broad opening for the Third Child.  Three short bursts removed the head and right torso before the entirety of the mech exploded into smoke and flame.  He had only one target left, though the boy knew for certain his first three kills had already respawned while he had been engaged and would likely return soon for revenge.

The instant his reticule crossed the red VF-Excalibur he noticed the surprised shots he had taken on the diving jet had managed to severely wound the mech without crippling it.  Likewise, the moderate damage he had sustained from the missiles it had fired paired with the damage he had taken from his mistake-filled bout near the alley put him in an even graver state. Then there was the inferiority of his veritech's hull compared to his foes', meaning he was really in trouble.  Rather than fire as he normally would have, he merely kept the primary barrel of his rifle leveled at the mech, shield held protectively in front of him.

Strangely enough, the gesture was mimicked by the red and white mech.  The short face-off ended when a barrage of missiles followed by a wide-fired spray of bullets ripped up the roof of the building they were standing on, directing both his and the red Excalibur's attention up and to the south from where four incoming and fresh veritechs were coming.

Jumping down into another alley, Shinji quickly checked his remaining munitions supply.  His shield integrity appeared to be fine, and his missile supply was more than adequate.  He still had both of his spare clips due to his conservative shooting, plus the few shots left in his current load.  What he lacked was armor and mobility.  He had been lucky thus far, but he still had the better part of seven minutes and at eleven opponents with at least two chances left each things weren't looking good.

Having regained his bearings, the dark-haired boy launched himself out into the boulevard sideways, firing a quick burst before changing into fighter mode and climbing for aerial combat—an area in which he would be at a sore disadvantage.

----

A frown creased the Second Child's face as she noticed the incoming enemies.  She could have easily finished off the wounded VF-11, though she held her itchy trigger finger, not wanting to waste her precious ammo on such an easy kill.  While she wasn't certain if he had been the one that had shot her, she knew for certain that it was the pilot everyone had been gawking at during the last match.  When she engaged him, she wanted him to be freshly armored and reloaded.  _When I kill him__, I want it to be a clean victory._

So she let him go, changing into her jet mode and turning upward in hopes of being able to get the drop on the approaching players.  A small dogfight ensued between the closest two, giving Asuka an edge, despite the serious damage her veritech had already taken.  Even in her state, a one-on-one with any of the other players would be easily dispatched.

Her first choice was to take on the same plane she had shot down at the beginning of the game.  While her speed was cut to just under seventy-five percent due to the damage to her left thruster, she would hardly need such an asset.  

Undoubtedly the player recognized the distinctly colored veritech, as it broke its set course to engage the apparently-wounded machine.  The green-marked mecha began its attack with a full volley of heavy missiles, each locking and tracing the Eva pilot's slower-moving jet-fighter.

Rather than providing the over-confident player with the quick kill he likely expected, Asuka switched to the battroid configuration, firing off several precise bursts and effectively destroying all of the incoming missiles.  A short boost from her thrusters accompanied by a bend at the waste sent her flipping directly over the incoming fighter, who had thought to make a scene by flying through the smoke of what would have been the girl's first defeat.  Secure in that she had managed to totally catch the cocky player off-guard, she fired the final thirty shots from her clip, destroying the green Excalibur's rear end and bringing in another kill for her score.

Checking her radar again, she frowned when she noticed three more opponents converging on a single target to her rear.  The three she had seen earlier had already been destroyed during her short bout, meaning the new-comers were an entirely fresh batch.

A lopsided smirk found its way to the redhead as she transformed her Excalibur into its fighter mode before moving to attack. 

---

"Oh, man, look at him go!"  Touji exclaimed as the entire group watched in awe as Shinji's distinct VF-11 changed into the guardian configuration, sliding sideways and backwards across the top of a building as thirty high-maneuver missiles launched from the back and leg missile pods.  This distracted the yellow YF-21 from the real danger—the six barreled cannon in the older mech's right hand—as it focused more on shooting down the incoming explosives.  

Kensuke blinked, noticing Shinji only held a one point lead over the red-player's score.  The other ten players were near complete elimination, and just over five-minutes remained.  Money continued to exchange hands about him as bets shifted from previously favored pilots to the player controlling the red Excalibur, which seemed even to Aida the logical choice at the moment.

"You think he'll be able to take that one guy?"  the larger man asked, a nervous edge in his voice.  

The curly-haired youth could only shake his head.  "I don't know.  So far he's proven to be at least as good as Shinji, and he's got a much better veritech.  We can only watch and wait…"  He grinned suddenly, pulling out a blue slip of paper, "And hold onto these."

Suzahara chuckled, reaching in his pocket and fingering his own ticket, smiling at the thought of claiming his part of the winner's pot.  He turned to look back at the monitors and watch the last half of the game when he noticed a dark-haired young man moving from one of the arcade booths to the next, poking his head in the curtain and obviously conveying a message; one that was all-too apparent to the athletic young man.

"Heya, Kens…we got trouble."

---

Asuka felt her heart leap in her throat when a hand pulled back the curtain and a head came through with a confident smirk on its face.  She turned to the unwelcome addition to her personal space, releasing her hand from the shifting lever and balling into a menacing fist.  "What the hell is your problem?"

The young Japanese male's cock-sure expression didn't falter in the slightest.  "Just a message from the other players.  They'd like you to help them take down player five--"

 "Get the hell out!" she yelled, literally knocking the smug expression off the boy's face.  Glaring threateningly down at the dark-haired boy, who had fallen on his rump just outside of the enclosed booth, the young woman offered the man her middle-finger instead.  "Here's my answer, asshole," she growled before throwing the curtain shut and turning back to the monitor.

Noticing a pillar of smoke and a count-down screen, the German swore vehemently in every language she knew.  Throwing herself back in her seat and gazing stonily at the screen, she waited for her veritech to respawn.  An icy smile crept to her face, however, when she noticed the pilot of the VF-11 had been taken down as well.

_Player five, eh? she thought, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.  Hearing someone speaking just outside her booth, she slid back the curtain, smiling politely at several spectators.  "Would you do me a favor there, cutie?" she inquired sweetly at the obviously older man._

"Me?" a bulky young man closest to her asked, perplexed.  "S-sure…"

"Great," she replied, offering her most charming smile while internally resisting the urge to retch at what she considered an unsightly view.  "Would you go tell player five he's going to be having problems real soon, and that I'm willing to give him a hand if he watches my back?"

The hefty male seemed to ponder on the words for a few seconds before nodding.  "You got it, Ace!" he declared, giving a sloppy salute before—what she considered—waddling off.

"Thanks," she muttered darkly to the man's broad back, entirely disapproving of her messenger.  _They say necessity makes for strange bedfellows, but that's just disgusting,_ she thought cynically.  Shrugging, she closed the curtain and centered her focus back on the screen, smiling as the final ten seconds began to tick away.  _Oh, well.  Time to teach these kiddies a lesson in fair play._

---

"That really doesn't surprise me," Shinji sighed at the news Touji had just delivered.  "So it's eleven on one?  I really don't think I'll last much longer, then.  Especially in this piece of junk."

Kensuke, who was looking in from the opposite side of the booth as his larger friend, pushed his glasses up his nose, offering an apologetic look.  "It's my fault.  I didn't see anything like this happening.  Sorry."

"Well, don't sweat it, Shi--" the youngest, though largest of the group was cut off and disappeared onto the other side of the curtain, his face replaced by a very cherubic and entirely unfamiliar one.

"Hi."

The young Ikari blinked, completely taken by surprise.  "Umm…hello?"

A broad smile splayed itself on the chubby countenance.  "Player eleven says you're going to have problems, and she wants to pair up with you.  If you watch her back, she'll watch yours," he reported.  

"Player eleven, huh?" Kensuke pondered, rubbing his chin and retreating from the curtains.  Less than two seconds later he popped back in, excitement written all over his face.  "Shinji!  That's the red Excalibur!  If you two team up there's no way you can lose!"

The Third Child's brow furrowed slightly, but he nodded his approval to the round-faced newcomer.  "Tell player eleven it's a deal," he stated, watching the countdown out the corner of his eyes.

"You got it, Ace," the husky man replied, vanishing. 

Not quite a second later, Touji poked his head in again, wearing a confused expression.  "That was freaky…"

Shinji nodded, relaxing and retightening his grip on the control stick and releasing a deep breath.  "Tell me about it," he agreed, throttling up as the countdown completed.

---

Immediately after launch, Asuka sought out the telltale blue marker, preparing to either ally herself with the player or destroy him; dependent on the response she received.  Given they would both be running on a fresh suit of armor and full ammunition, both would be at their prime, though her mecha easily outmatched his.  She couldn't help but admire his prowess, however, as he had more than proven his capabilities on the battlefield by his outstanding performance thus far.

"He said 'Okay'," a familiar and unsavory voice announced.  

The redhead smiled at the older man cordially, taking her eyes off the screen for only a moment.  "Great.  Now, could you please watch from _outside_?"

"You got it, Ace," the husky man chimed happily, giving a friendly nod before retreating out of the booth.

_My God…are all men such idiots?_ she asked herself despairingly.  Closing in on the blue, black, and white VF-11 she grinned, like a cat playing with its favorite toy.  _At least this one isn't a complete retard._

In an almost playful gesture of comradeship—even if temporary—the Second Child brought her veritech less than a meter above her new partner, slowing down and matching his speed.  She regretted not being able to talk with the player, though she really had no need to do so.  All he had to do was take a few bullets for her while she racked in the kills.  After she had taken out all of the targets, she would simply and efficiently destroy her former ally and claim victory.  Once she won, she could talk with her runner-up before calling it a night and heading home.

She smirked when she noticed the incoming group flying in a loose and sloppy formation.  While she would have preferred to engage the enemy in a dogfight, she knew her partner would be of little use—even as a shield—in the air, leaving her with little other option than to take to the city below and initiate in an equally direct and far more destructive form of combat.  With a flick of her wrist, she tugged back on the control stick, pulling her fighter away from the VF-11 before diving downward.

_He'll just have to keep up,_ she mused, not really caring one way or the other.

---

Rei watched the entire scenario fold out on the over-head monitors displayed in a circle over the clustered arcades.  While she really didn't care for video-games, she found herself more than tolerant of Shinji Ikari's fascination with playing them.  Normally she wouldn't give the devices a second thought, and yet here she was, watching her fellow pilot prove in yet another way he could handle a machine with grace and skill.

Externally, her face almost perpetually remained emotionless and uncaring—because that was precisely how the girl felt; indifferent.  Yet, where the young, dark-haired male was concerned, she found herself acting out of the ordinary, feeling things she normally didn't feel and doing things she normally didn't do.  At first it had unnerved the girl, but over the course of the last several months she had found herself more comfortable with the prospect of "hanging out".

Thus, here she was, standing amidst a crowd of people she didn't know, yet had risked her life for on several occasions, watching the Third Child play a game based on something she had entirely no clue about, "hanging out".  She had feigned coming under the guise of merely performing a duty; watching her fellow pilot and insuring his safety, though truthfully she had wanted to come, and had been grateful for the invitation to be a part of the "group".  "Friendship" wasn't an entirely alien concept to the girl, though she had little experience with the subject-matter. 

She had quickly discovered it to be favorable, however, reveling each moment in her own, quiet manner.

Her crimson eyes continued to watch the monitors, absorbing all of the information being displayed with a detached interest thus far.  It wasn't until she noticed that Shinji's fighter had recently begun working with the equally skillful red fighter that the blue-haired young woman started to pay closer attention.

The two planes moved together in what might have been a sort of dance, one shifting into the jet-humanoid hybrid and firing off a barrage of small missiles while the other skimmed behind and around the other in the humanoid-mech form. Firing off accurate and precise shots, the second neutralized or crippled the target, dependent how quickly the target reacted to the assault.  The maneuvers were perfectly synchronized and supplementing, as if practiced and choreographed by the two pilots.

It wasn't until she saw the pair both assume humanoid forms and fall back-to-back as each tried to ward off their respective opponent's onslaught, that Rei recalled a training session in which two people had been literally forced to "dance" in such harmony.  Her lips pursed slightly in a physical show of her disapproval at the obvious meshing between the two acquainted players.  Rather than address the issue directly, however, the First Child continued to watch, enchanted by the complementary maneuvers and puzzled by how one would easily pick up where the other missed a step without any form of communication between the two.

She simply didn't understand how such a thing was possible.  It defied every form of logic she knew, every type of tactic she had ever studied, and every form of martial arts she had ever seen.  Nothing could compare to the deadly ballet; neither in efficiency nor beauty.

Within two minutes the entire entourage of players had been defeated utterly, leaving only the two pilots standing in the flat and desolate landscape where their dance had ended.  They stood over a hundred meters away from one another, though it seemed like mere meters given the size of their mechas.  Rei watched the face-off through faintly narrowed eyes, wondering, she knew, precisely the same thing as everyone else in the room.

"Who's gonna shoot first?" she heard Suzahara, whom she felt was the more favorable of Shinji's close friends, ask quietly to no one in particular.

"It's gotta be the red one," Aida whispered his response.  "You know how Shinji is—he'd never start a fight."

_Too true_, the girl agreed readily, not daring to blink.  She watched as the clock continued to tick down to less than two minutes, not daring to blink for fear of missing anything.  _Ikari would never take the offensive until his opponent made the first move.  Sohryu has never shown much in the way of patience, and has proven to be hot-headed and hasty many times in the past.  Who will move first is not the question so much as it is who will make the last move._

As if on cue, the red VF-19 shifted into its hybrid mode, firing its forward thrusters and releasing a volley of missiles accompanied by several bursts of its machine gun.

Expectedly, the VF-11 brought its shield to bear, reflecting the incoming projectiles while its own rifle made quick work of the high-maneuver missiles.  In an effort to avoid the charging mech's bull-rush, the blue and white veritech switched to its jet-fighter mode, launching itself upward.

_A mistake,_ Rei noted, realizing the ploy for what it had been.  She had already seen how much of a disadvantage the Third Child's mecha was at when it was in the air, as well as how skillfully and easily the Second Child managed to make short-work of all of her other opponents in aerial combat.  _If Ikari attempts to best Sohryu in that form of engagement, he will lose._

As if the notion had simultaneously struck the dark-blue eyed boy, his mech filled in what might have been considered a somersault, shifting into the hybrid form and firing a volley of missiles, forcing the red Excalibur to speed haphazardly skyward in order to avoid the weapons.  In a further effort to foil any of the red and white mech's plans, the Thunderbolt shifted into the humanoid form, firing a hail of bullets into the air after the banking jet.

Having drained the nearly empty magazine, Shinji was forced to discard and reload, taking away the edge of his sudden attack and providing the redhead with the opportunity she needed to swoop in with another missile barrage, this time using heavier and more devastating warheads.  The pointed tubes dropped from the low-flying fighter, free-falling for a moment before the rockets ignited, shoving the projectiles toward their target at dizzying speeds.

Unable to bring his gun to bear in time to shoot down the locked missiles, the boy shifted to the hybrid form, launching himself forward and under the missile vectors, not giving them the time or space to change heading and effectively forcing them into the ground where they exploded harmlessly.  He now had an opening on the vulnerable red-jet, which was slightly slower than the missiles it had fired, which he used to open a volley of his own, small missiles.

In a skillful show of quick-reacting, the VF-19 deployed one of its cluster bombs, which exploded into a shower of metal and glass shards, both throwing the small missiles off-target and forcing them to detonate non-detrimentally in the air.  Rather than changing her heading, which would have normally driven the nose of her jet right into the ground, the young German had switched to the hybrid form to brake, then quickly changing to the humanoid mode and firing off several streams of bullets at her opponent.

Rei continued to observe, frowning occasionally upon the little mistakes each pilot made, only to be faintly amazed at the quick and resourceful recoveries.  Truly the two were proving to be evenly matched on the ground, where the overall speed and aerial capabilities of the mechs were null.  She began to wonder, however, what the results would be like had Shinji taken the same machine.

"Wow…" was all Touji managed to gasp from behind the blue-haired girl.  

"No shit," Kensuke breathed from where he stood next to her.

It was then the girl noticed the entire arcade had fallen silent, save for the occasionally murmured comments or strangled cries of suspense.  The crimson-eyed girl found the entire scene strangely amusing, wondering if the people around her would react the same way if they watched the two pilots battle in their Evangelions.  She seriously doubted it, considering both the damage and danger would be very real in the other situation, while now everything was confined to a virtual world that would reset itself the moment the clock ran down to zero.

A remarkable turn of events drew her from her private musings and back onto the monitor, where the two mechas were now circling one another, rifles and shields brought to bear.  Curious, she turned to whom she felt was more knowledgeable on the cause of the recent change in engagement.  "Why are they fighting in that configuration?" she asked the sandy-blonde haired male standing next to her.

Surprised, Aida had to reach up and grip his glasses, which had nearly fallen from his face when he had turned so suddenly to look at the girl.  "Well," he explained quietly, "they ran out of missiles, and the rifle is most accurate when handled in the battroid mode."

"I see," she stated in her soft monotone, continuing to watch the two circling opponents.  "Then their current form of engagement is the most effective, given their armaments?"

"You got it," he practically chirped, though he kept his voice hushed.

_Then they are evenly matched,_ she affirmed.  _Seventy-five seconds, and the over-all score is relatively tied, though Ikari has less kills than Sohryu.  Even if she manages to best him, there will be a point-tie at best, and enough time for Ikari to re-enter the game with a full armament._  She felt a twinge of amusement in the back of her mind, something not as uncommon as most people tended to think.  _That is only assuming she manages to defeat him.  In the other case scenario, Ikari will best her, giving her the opportunity to re-enter with a refilled supply of munitions.  _

The clock continued to tick away, falling to less than a minute, and still neither of the veritechs had made a move at the other.  It wasn't until the timer fell on precisely fifty seconds did the Excalibur lurch ahead, firing its maneuvering thrusters and sending the machine flying forward, its feet using the afterburners to provide an advancing hovering motion, giving it a surprising burst of speed.

Likewise the Thunderbolt began its own charge, leaning at an impossible angle that could only be maintained by an intense speed.  It's right arm was tucked tightly against its side with the stock of the rifle set neatly in the niche of its elbow, setting the end of the barrel just behind the outstretched shield.  Rather than firing any shots, however, the pilot chose to conserve what precious little ammo he had left, waiting for a more opportune time to shoot.

In a simulated game of chicken, the two veritechs sped at one another.  At the last possible second, however, each mech veered to its right, swinging its rifle to wear the opposing mecha would have been had it continued its charge.  The result in the sudden change of vector cause the loose sand on the top of the waste-land terrain to kick up a funnel of dust.  Without missing a beat or losing momentum, the two battroids dashed in at one another again, rifles held low and shields forward, effectively covering the majority of the far-leaning mechs' bodies.  

Yet again, just before colliding the two pilots engaged in evasive maneuvers, this time precisely the opposite of one another, the VF-11 twisting in mid air to where its back was facing the ground, rifle aimed upward to where the opposing mechs' back should have been and shield brought up to cover the blue mecha's head. The VF-19, however, had chosen to spin and lift upward, aiming its rifle downward to where the Thunderbolt's head would have been and bearing the shield to cover the torso and cockpit of the red veritech.  This time shots were fired by both parties, only to be harmlessly deflected by the densely-armored forearm shields.

Again the mechs dashed apart, this time coming to a halt opposite one another again.  The clock had just passed the forty-six second marker, and neither player had gained an edge over the other.  The drama was unfolding theatrically, as if the moves had been planned and practiced a thousand times, though such was not the case.  Dust that had been unsettled by the swirling air currents produced by the combating veritechs flew in every direction, creating a highly unrealistic and majestic scene.

"Would ya look at that…" the curly-haired and freckled Aida remarked, folding his arms over his chest.  "Just like in the mangas.  You'd think it was just another computer-graphics rendering of a veritech duel, just like in the animes."

The jump-suit clad Suzahara chuckled, running a hand through his short hair.  "It's definitely neat to watch.  But my question is why is Shinji's score higher than the red guy's if he has two less kills?"

"It's the mech he's using," the bespectacled young man stated with a nod.  "Since he's at such a disadvantage, he gets more points for a kill than someone flying a newer mech.  Look, there they go again!"

Rei continued to watch as the two humanoid machines again launched at one another, thirty-seven seconds left until the end of the match.  This time as the Excalibur came in, the barrel of its rifle was ablaze as it spewed a line of bullets, several managing to fly past the Thunderbolt's shield and punch into the weaker machine's armor and cause internal damage, signified by sudden streams of black smoke.  The blue mech, however, continued forward, its shield and rifle held in identical positions to the first charge, ignoring the peripheral damage it was being dealt. 

 Within a second the two had clashed shields in a shower of sparks accompanied by appropriate sound-effects.  Rifles quickly swung into positions, the blue mecha's coming in beneath the red veritech's shield, shoving the barrel against the Excalibur's cockpit, while the VF-19's gun came around and from above, the slightly smoking tip touching against the side of the Thunderbolt's head.

Simultaneously the mechs pulled the triggers of their guns, only to be met by faint clicks, signaling both players had completely drained their ammunition supply.  For several seconds the remained in the grapple-like position, neither moving as they continued to try and fire their weapons.

With uncharacteristic fascination, Rei wondered what would happen next.  

The pilot of the VF-11D caught his opponent completely off guard when it activated the switch-blade like bayonet at the end of its hand-cannon, the long metal knife sawing through the armor of the torso of the transformed mech.  Having absolutely surprised the pilot of the red veritech, the older-designed mech heaved forward, shoving the Excalibur backwards and causing it to over-balance, providing several more openings for additional thrusts.  With deadly precision, the Thunderbolt's blade-tipped machine gun ripped through the VF-19's cockpit, killing the simulated pilot and officially ending the game at thirty-one seconds—not enough time for the red player to re-enter the game and attempt to claim victory.

In a burst of cheering, the crowd split apart, beginning to crowd around the two stalls where the now equally popular players were seated.  Rei reached up, brushing back a stray lock of hair and tucking it behind her ear—a gesture she found herself frequently repeating, though she had no idea from where she had picked it up.  Her face was as blank as ever, though she felt a subtle surge of pride in her chest at her friend's victory.  She walked behind Touji as he shouldered and shoved his way through the gathering crowd as Kensuke set about collecting his and Touji's winnings.  

Normally the young light-skinned woman ignored the buzz of any group, having learned long ago that social gossip was both irrelevant and usually based on pretenses and negatively-biased opinions.  Tonight, however, she found herself allowing her ears to scan through the conversations of the gathered crowd, feeling a subtle surge of warmth at each praising word aimed at the blue-player's performance.

"There's no way that just happened," someone stated, drawing the young woman's attention.  "Absolutely no way!"

"No sense complaining.  We underestimated this guy is all.  Just didn't give him enough credit for his abilities," came a slightly amused response.

"Dude, shut up.  Do you have any idea how much I _lost?"_

"Your point?  I lost a bit myself.  There's no sense in getting so upset over it."

"I'm not upset!" the first snapped back angrily.

A faint twinge of satisfaction pricked at the girl's typically unyielding heart at the exchange.  For some irrational reason or another, Rei felt as if justice had been served this night.  Shinji had not only earned the win—even if it was only a game—but he deserved everything that seemed to be coming with it.  The fact that it had doubtlessly been the Second Child that he had defeated made it all the more fitting.

The sparse outcropping of emotions intrigued the First Child, and she began to ponder, as always, the "why" behind it all.  As irrational as they were, they seemed to be more than fitting under the given circumstances.  The fact she was both feeling and accepting the emotion served as catalysts to her ever-working curiosity, as they violated her established norms.

This, however, snuffed whatever it was she had been feeling, leaving again only what most might consider an empty shell.  Realizing she had lost yet another opportunity to better understand herself, she turned her strayed focus back to the reality of the moment, consciously collecting and considering forms of congratulation she should present her friend and coworker with.

---

Her hand still gripped the control stick tightly, the muscles in her arm tensed and the blood drained from her knuckles.  The blue gems that were her eyes glared hatefully at the two initials that held the first-place score, just above her own name.

_S.I.  The Katakana seemed to mock her, dancing, smiling, and laughing just above her own entry.  There was no doubt in the redhead's mind that the person that had just beaten her in the duel was the same player that had achieved the score she couldn't match.  _

Asuka's teeth grit painfully together and her eyes began to burn, as if she hadn't had any sleep for several days.  A taxing weight dropped on her shoulders, like the entire world had just fallen down around her.  Her heart rate accelerated, then seized up for a instant before bursting into motion again. The process repeated itself at irregular intervals, happening several times in the span of a few seconds.  It proved to be remarkably uncomfortable at times, as if the muscle were suffering from hiccups, though she wasn't sure if it was causing her any serious damage or not.  

_Damn this…this _crap!she snapped, opening her hand and angrily slapping the joystick, as if it had somehow betrayed her.  Rubbing her chest where her heart continued to flutter in a vain effort to ease the organic pump's sudden jitteriness, the girl turned in her seat and prepared to leave the mall and return to the apartment.  A cold, clammy sweat had begun to lightly lather her skin, and she suddenly felt like taking a long, warm shower and getting something to eat.  _Unless the food plans on kicking my ass, too, she growled mentally, clenching her jaw even tighter._

She emerged from the curtain, the heat of surrounding bodies and the sound of cheering voices striking her senses like a concussive force.  Combined with the vertigo she received from standing up too suddenly with her quickly developing headache, the young woman felt as if she were in a daze, her balance threatening to land her on her knees in the floor.  With one hand she reached to stabilize herself using the support of the arcade booth, and with the other she reached to wipe away the thin layer of sweat on her forehead.  For a moment she closed her eyes, blocking out the sight, smell, and sound of the crowd as she attempted to collect herself.  

Seeing the crowd massing around the game pod disgusted the young woman.  Hoping no one recognized her, the girl quietly slipped out of the arcade, having every intention of returning to her temporary residence and indulging herself in a late-night session of television accompanied by a large portion of home-cooked food.

_At least Shinji's good for something…_ she mused dourly, sticking her hands in her pants pockets and exiting the arcade.  

---

With a heavy sigh of relief, Shinji leaned bodily against the now closed door.  A painful burning sensation was plaguing his eyes and chest, and he knew for certain it was all due to the fact that he had almost entirely forgone sleep the night before.  _Not the dumbest thing you've ever done, he chided himself,_ but definitely ranking up there on the stupidity chart._  "I'm home," he announced quietly._

As he slipped off his shoes, he wondered, with a trace of amusement, if any of the food he had spent the entire night-before preparing had been left for him.  Hunger temporarily replaced fatigue, and the young man trudged wearily from the front foyer into the dining area, noticing absently the television was on, and that a pair of very feminine feet were poking out from the side of the sofa.  Giving the appendages only a passing glimpse, the boy again focused on his primary destination:  the refrigerator. 

"Hey, how come there isn't anything to eat in the freezer?" the owner of the naked feet asked from her position on the couch.

The question had completely caught the young man off guard.  "Huh?"

Shuffling accompanied by the faint sound of cushions groaning could be heard over the low-volumed television program.  Within seconds the sound of bare feet padding softly against the cold, tiled kitchen floor could be heard.  "I came home about a half hour ago and you weren't here to cook, so I decided to help myself."  

Shinji turned his face slightly toward the redhead, acknowledging her presence so as not to further her obvious irritation.  Before speaking he made note of the fact that she had recently taken a shower and had donned her thin sweat pants and an over-sized t-shirt. "Sorry," he apologized, hoping to smooth things over.

If anything the word seemed to bristle the girls feathers, and her blue eyes hardened slightly as her dissatisfaction with the young man had increased two-fold.  "Anyway, there wasn't anything to fix in the freezer, and nothing in the cabinets."

"Did you check the fridge?" he inquired, opening the door as if to emphasize his question.

"What for?" Asuka shot back dubiously with an angered edge.  "There's nothing in there but beer."

Seeing what he had been hoping to find, he reached in and pulled out the covered container.  "Things change," he stated with a smile, presenting the plastic tub to the girl.  "You don't have anything against somen and fishcakes, do you?  I sort of made it for you and Misato to have for lunch today.  It should still be pretty good, since all I can ever seem to find is processed fish.  I hope you don't mind…"

"Is that why you were up all last night?" the German inquired as she took her customary dinner seat.  Adjusting herself so that one foot was tucked neatly beneath her, she gave a hefty yawn accompanied by a cat-like stretch.  

"Yeah…" the young man admitted, feeling a blush come to his cheeks as he placed the fishcakes on a platter to warm them.  His face contorted slightly as something occurred to him.  "How did you know I was up all night?"

The girl's reaction to his question puzzled the boy, as her back stiffened and her blue-eyes widened in surprise and the faintest look of embarrassment flickered across her porcelain features.  Her mouth fell open as if to give a response before snapping back shut, surprise and embarrassment instantaneously being replaced with outrage.  "Because you kept me up with all that damned racket!" she shot, pounding a fist on the table for emphasis.  Heatedly she flung her back against the chair, crossing her arms and scowling darkly at the dark blue-eyed boy.  "It's because you're so damned inconsiderate of the other people in this house."

"Sorry," Shinji mumbled reflexively as he fixed the tea.  The thought of indicating that if he hadn't been considerate, he wouldn't have bothered cooking anything at all crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed the notion.  _Sometimes it's better to say nothing than to try and argue…especially with her, he told himself sagely._

Asuka snorted rudely at the apology, giving an exaggerated sigh.  "You're such a damned wimp sometimes, I swear.  Sometimes I wonder if you're even human or not.  I mean, you being an invertebrate and all…"

"You don't have to be insulting," the Third Child murmured under his breath, suddenly beginning to regret his trying to make amends for the previous night.  His appetite was fast-fading, and he contemplated letting the girl help herself and just turning in for the evening.

There was a slight pause, followed closely by a grunt of disgust.  "See?  You're such a wimp when it comes to any sort of confrontation.  How someone as spineless as you has managed to survive so long in this world is beyond even my level of comprehension—and that's really saying something."  As she spoke, the girl began examining the finger nails on one hand, keeping the other folded tightly against her person.  The idle expression on her face quickly shifted to one of flustered irritation.  "Isn't that food ready yet?  I'm starving."

Shinji managed to fight back the urge to groan in dismay.  In a last-ditch effort to turn the tide of the conversation, he threw out the same question he tended to ask Misato before dinner.  "Anyway…  So how was your day?"  

"_Wider erwarten," she muttered immediately, not giving much thought to what she was saying or to whom she was speaking.  "God did it suck ass."_

The young Ikari set a plate of cold noodles and reheated fish cakes in front of the girl, following through with a pair of chopsticks and a cup of hot tea.  "How come?" he probed, ignoring what he felt was an obvious German insult, and moving to fetch his own plate, genuinely curious about the hot-tempered young woman.

"For starters," she began before biting off a generous portion of the breaded fish, "I had…to wear that ridiculously itchy…uniform and sit…and wait for God-knows-how-long…"  She trailed off, a hateful glower surfacing.  "Just why the hell am I talking to you of all people about this?"

Shinji blinked in surprise, just sitting down in his own seat next to the redhead. "I…"

"God!  Just what the hell is wrong with me?" the auburn-haired girl asked rhetorically.  Angrily she pushed herself away from the table, stabbing her chopsticks savagely in the plate of food.  "Why the hell am I talking to _you_ of all people?"

"Sorry."

At that she slapped her open palms against the flat wooden surface, pulling herself to her full height.  "Quit stating the obvious!  _Everyone_ knows you're 'sorry'!  You're _always 'sorry'!"_

The boy shook his head, not knowing what else to say.  "Sor-"

"_Don't," the girl snapped, jabbing a finger threateningly at the male, "say it.  So help me, if I hear you say that _one_ more time, I'll strangle you.  You have __no idea how sick I am of hearing you say that.  I've only been back __three days and I'm sick of hearing you say it."_

He fell silent, his head bowing and turning away from the wrathful young woman.  It didn't take long for what was left of his appetite to leave him and replace itself with a longing for the solitude of his room.  For some reason he found himself desiring the companionship of his old SDAT player.  Not for the first time, the young man found himself at the losing end of a fight he had tried to avoid, and not for the first time, he had no idea what to do next.

Disgustedly, the redhead pushed her plate away before hauling herself to her feet, apparently dismissing herself from the table.  "I must be in a sorry state if I'm receiving sympathy from the likes of _you."  She had practically spat the last word._

Unable to find any words in his own defense and fearing to make any apologies, the young man simply hung his head in shame.  He wasn't the slightest bit surprised to hear bare feet pad softly across the floor, nor was he shocked by the swishing of the thin sliding door as it clicked shut, drawing the encounter to its ultimate end.  

A detached sense of irony crept into his mind as he realized that that particular sound had _always been the final word of any bout where the young woman was concerned.  The door itself was practically made of paper, and yet in his mind he found it to be even more impenetrable than an AT field.  _

With a heavy sigh—one of saddened resolve—the boy pulled himself to his feet and trudged to his room, not bothering to clean up, before collapsing on the bed.  Though his body was tired, his mind refused to allow him to succumb to the call for sleep.  The stew created by the recently up-churned feelings of depression, resentment, and frustration were more than a little nostalgic, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

_There's no winning with her_, he fumed.  _No matter what I do it's wrong or not good enough.  Why the hell do I even bother?_

No answer seemed forthcoming.

Finally reaching his wit's end and exhausting what little remaining vitality he had for the day, the young man fell into a dark, restless slumber.

---

She had heard the scuffing of his feet as they lightly dragged across the floor—had heard the door softly click shut followed by the heavy _thud_ signifying he had predictably fallen on his bed from both physical and mental fatigue.  In her mind's eye she could see him lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling with an apathetic expression on his face.

It disgusted her to no ends.

The situation itself seemed entirely skewed and wrong to her.  _Where's the justice in all this? she mentally growled.  _How did things work out like this?__

Today, she concluded at length, had been a bad—no, terrible day.  Every battle she had engaged herself in had either been an utter loss, or a phony victory.  _The one with Shinji doesn't count, she chided herself, __since he's such a damned wuss.  If I ever lost to the likes of him__ I'm done for._

Before long her thoughts shifted to the events that would take place tomorrow.  It would be a decisive event, and the chances of her emerging victorious were remote at best.  All-in-all it was extremely disheartening to the young and likely former pilot.  Win or lose, though, she would be able to see things in a much clearer light—she would know for certain whether or not she had wasted her entire childhood on something that had proven thus far to be little more than a bane to her existence.

With a grunt, the girl rolled over in her bed, clamping her eyes shut and gritting her teeth together forcefully, clearing her mind in the process.  It would do little good, she knew, to ponder on such things.  Determination had brought her this far, and it would see her through to the end.  She would win tomorrow because she _had_ to win—there wasn't any alternative.

The stakes had been laid and the bets were closed.  It was time for her to lay down her hand.  


End file.
